Dark energy domination in the local flow of giant galaxies

Abstract

A dozen of the most luminous galaxies, at distances of up to 10 Mpc from the Local Group, move away from the group, forming the local expansion flow of giants.We use recent Hubble Space Telescope data on local giants and their numerous fainter companions to study the dynamical structure and evolutionary trends of the flow. An N-body computer model, which reproduces the observed kinematics of the flow, is constructed under the assumption that the flow is embedded in the universal dark energy background. In the model, the motions of the flow members are controlled by their mutual attraction force and the repulsion force produced by the dark energy. It is found that the dark energy repulsion dominates the force field of the flow. Because of this, the flow expands with acceleration. The dark energy domination is enhanced by the environment effect of the low mean matter density on the spatial scale of 50 Mpc in the local Universe. The dark energy domination increases with time and introduces to the flow an asymptotically linear velocity-distance relation with the universal time-rate that depends on the dark energy density only.