A first comparison of the surface brightness fluctuation survey distances with the galaxy density field:: Implications for H0 and Ω

We compare the peculiar velocities measured in the surface brightness fluctuation survey of galaxy distances with the predictions from the density fields of the IRAS 1.2 Jy flux-limited redshift survey and the optical redshift survey (ORS) to derive simultaneous constraints on the Hubble constant H-0 and the density parameter beta = Omega(0.6)/b, where b is the linear bias. We find that beta(1) = 0.42(-0.06)(+0.10) and beta(0) = 0.26 +/- 0.08 for the IRAS and ORS comparisons, respectively, and that H-0 = 74 +/- 4 km s(-1) Mpc (with an additional 9% uncertainty due to the Cepheids themselves). The match between predicted and observed peculiar velocities is good for these values of H-0 and beta, and although there is covariance between the two parameters, our results clearly point toward low-density cosmologies. Thus, the unresolved discrepancy between the "velocity-velocity'' and "density-density" measurements of beta continues.