Kinematic peculiarities of Gould Belt stars

We analyzed the space velocities of Gould Belt stars younger than 125 Myr located at heliocentric distances < 650 pc. We determined the rotation and expansion parameters of the Gould Belt by assuming the existence of a single kinematic center whose direction was found to be the following: l(0) = 128degrees and R(0) = 150 pc. The linear velocities reach their maximum at a distance of approximate to300 pc from the center and are -6 km s(-1) for the rotation (whose direction coincides with the Galactic rotation) and +4 km s(-1) for the expansion. The stellar rotation model used here is shown to give a more faithful description of the observed velocity field than the linear model based on the Oort constants A(G) and B(G). We present evidence that the young clusters beta Pic, Tuc/HorA, and TWA belong to the Gould Belt structure. (C) 2004 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".