Cosmicflows-4

Abstract

With Cosmicflows- 4, distances are compiled for 55,877 galaxies gathered into 38,065 groups. Eight methodologies are employed, with the largest numbers coming from the correlations between the photometric and kinematic properties of spiral galaxies (TF) and elliptical galaxies (FP). Supernovae that arise from degenerate progenitors (type Ia SNe) are an important overlapping component. Smaller contributions come from distance estimates from the surface brightness fluctuations of elliptical galaxies and the luminosities and expansion rates of core-collapse supernovae (SNe II). Cepheid period–luminosity relation and tip of the red giant branch observations founded on local stellar parallax measurements along with the geometric maser distance to NGC 4258 provide the absolute scaling of distances. The assembly of galaxies into groups is an important feature of the study in facilitating overlaps between methodologies. Merging between multiple contributions within a methodology and between methodologies is carried out with Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo procedures. The final assembly of distances is compatible with a value of the Hubble constant of H _0 = 74.6 km s ^−1 Mpc ^−1 with the small statistical error of ±0.8 km s ^−1 Mpc ^−1 but a large potential systematic error of ∼3 km s ^−1 Mpc ^−1 . Peculiar velocities can be inferred from the measured distances. The interpretation of the field of peculiar velocities is complex because of large errors on individual components and invites analyses beyond the scope of this study.

Keywords

• Distance indicators
• Galaxy distances
• Large-scale structure of the universe
• Observational cosmology
• Hubble constant