Peculiar velocities from cosmic strings

The peculiar velocities with respect to the uniform Hubble expansion which arise in the cosmic-string theory of galaxy formation are estimated analytically and compared to numerical simulations. In contrast with models of formation of structure based on primordial linear energy-density perturbations with random phases the distribution of velocities in the cosmic-string scenario is highly non-Gaussian. The most likely velocities are approximately scale independent for scales smaller than 50$h^{\mathrm{-}1}$ Mpc. We discuss both the effects of cosmic-string loops and of wakes. The analytical analysis presented in this paper complements earlier work in which the numerical results were presented.