# 1 The SCI, SFI and SC2 Surveys

## 1 The SCI, SFI and SC2 Surveys

We report on the results of peculiar velocity measurements obtained from three samples of spiral galaxies, based on the Tully–Fisher technique which combines I–band photometry and either 21 cm or H$`\alpha `$ long–slit spectroscopy. The three samples are: (a) SCI, which includes 782 galaxies in the fields of 24 clusters within $`cz9000`$ km s<sup>-1</sup> (, ); (b) SFI, which includes 1631 field galaxies out to $`cz9000`$ km s<sup>-1</sup> (,); and (c) SC2, which includes 522 galaxies in the fields of 52 clusters out to $`cz20,000`$ km s<sup>-1</sup> (, ).

## 2 No Hubble Bubble

Recently, it has been suggested by  that the volume within $`cz7000`$ km s<sup>-1</sup> is subject to a Hubble acceleration of $`6.6\pm 2.2`$%, resulting from a local underdensity of 20%, surrounded by an overdense shell. The result is based on the distances to 44 SN of type Ia. In Figure 1, we test that result by using the combined sample of 76 clusters of SCI plus SC2. The distances to each individual cluster have typical accuracy of 5%, and the cluster sample is well distributed over the sky. Figure 1 displays $`\delta H/H=V_{pec}/cz_{tf}`$ against $`hd=cz_{tf}/100`$, where $`V_{pec}`$ is the peculiar velocity in the CMB reference frame and $`cz_{tf}`$ is the TF distance in Mpc, in the same frame. Unfilled symbols represent clusters with poor distance determinations, based on fewer than 5 galaxies with TF measurements per cluster. Fig. 1 illustrates how, at small distances, the deviations from Hubble flow are dominated by the motions of nearby groups, comparable in amplitude to those of the LG (611 km s<sup>-1</sup> ). At distances larger than 35$`h^1`$ Mpc, the monopole of the cluster peculiar velocity field exhibits no significant change of value, anywhere up to 200 Mpc. The Hubble bubble suggestion of  is not corroborated by this larger and more accurate data set.

## 3 Dipoles of the Field Spiral Sample (SFI)

Figure 2 displays the dipoles of the reflex motion of the Local Group (LG) with respect to field galaxies in shells 2000 km s<sup>-1</sup> thick. The dashed line in panel 2a corresponds to the amplitude of the CMB dipole, of 611 km s<sup>-1</sup> . The three sets of symbols identify different ways of computing the peculiar velocities, using different subsets of the data or adopting a direct (stars) or inverse TF relation. The SFI sample indicates convergence to the CMB dipole, in the motion of the LG with respect to galaxies in shells, when a radius of a few thousand km s<sup>-1</sup> is reached. Convergence is achieved both in amplitude and apex direction, The dipole of  is excluded with a high level of confidence. See  for further details.

## 4 Dipoles of the Cluster Samples (SCI and SC2)

The dipole moments of the reflex motion of the LG with respect to (i) the subset of clusters farther than 4000 km s<sup>-1</sup> in the SCI cluster sample and (ii) the SC2 sample both coincide, within the errors, with that of the CMB. This coincidence is matched both in amplitude and apex direction. Figure 3 displays the error clouds for the coordinates of the apices of data sets derived from the SC2 sample, plotted against supergalactic Cartesian coordinates. One and two–sigma contours are plotted, as well as the locations of the CMB and the Lauer & Postman dipoles. The latter can be excluded by our data with a high level of confidence. The bulk flow within a sphere of 6000 km s<sup>-1</sup> radius, as derived from SCI, is between 140 and 320 km s<sup>-1</sup> , in the CMB reference frame, somewhat lower than obtained by other techniques (e.g. ,). See  and  for details.

## 5 Conclusion

The reflex motion of the LG converges to the CMB dipole amplitude and direction within 6000 km s<sup>-1</sup> . No evidence is found for a local Hubble bubble.

Acknowledgements.  The results presented here were obtained by the combined efforts of M. Haynes, D. Dale, E. Hardy, L. Campusano, M. Scodeggio, J. Salzer, G. Wegner, L. da Costa, W. Freudling and the author. They are based on observations that were carried out at several observatories, including Palomar, Arecibo, NOAO, NRAO, Nançay, MPI and MDM. NRAO, NOAO and NAIC are operated under management agreements with the National Science Foundation respectively by AUI, AURA and Cornell University. The Palomar Observatory is operated by Caltech under a management agreement with Cornell University and JPL. This work was supported by NSF grants AST94–20505 and AST96–17069.