Comparing the redshift-space density field to the real-space velocity field

Abstract

I derive a nonlinear local relation between the redshift-space density field and the real-space velocity field. The relation accounts for radial character of redshift distortions, and it is not restricted to the limit of the distant observer. Direct comparisons between the observed redshift-space density fields and the real-space velocity fields possess all of the advantages of the conventional redshift-space analyses, while at the same time they are free of their disadvantages. In particular, neither the model-dependent reconstruction of the density field in real space is necessary, nor is the reconstruction of the nonlinear velocity field in redshift space, questionable because of its vorticity at second order. The nonlinear redshift-space velocity field is irrotational only in the distant observer limit, and that limit is not a good approximation for shallow catalogs of peculiar velocities currently available. Unlike the conventional redshift-space comparisons, the comparison proposed here does not have to be restricted to the linear regime. Accounting for nonlinear effects removes one of the sources of bias in the estimate of beta. Moreover, the nonlinear effects break the Omega-bias degeneracy plaguing all analyses based on linear theory.