The X-ray flux dipole of AGNs as an indicator of the local gravitational field

We have investigated the dipole anisotropy of the sky X-ray flux from nearby AGNs to compare with the peculiar motion of the Local Group (LG) using a more extensive sample than that of Miyaji and Boldt (1990). We have sampled 56 low redshift emission-line AGNs (z less than 0.06) from the HEAO 1 A-2 experiment with a flux limit lower than that of Piccinotti et al. (1982) and with a lower galactic latitude cutoff. Our sample shows a significant dipole anisotropy whose apex is only about 30 deg away from the direction of the Local Group's peculiar motion for the objects with z less than 0.015. The dipole growth vs. redshift shows a sharp rise between z = 0.006 and z = 0.015; the amplitude of the dipole is 40 +/- 10 percent of the corresponding monopole at z = 0.015. The outer redshift cutoff is consistent with the results obtained from analyses using optical and IRAS galaxies. The present sample strengthens our previous conclusion that X-ray emission from AGNs traces the underlying mass distribution as strongly as optical and IR emission from galaxies.