Local kinematics and the local standard of rest

We re-examine the stellar kinematics of the solar neighbourhood in terms of the velocity upsilon(circle dot) of the Sun with respect to the local standard of rest. We show that the classical determination of its component V(circle dot) in the direction of Galactic rotation via Stromberg's relation is undermined by the metallicity gradient in the disc, which introduces a correlation between the colour of a group of stars and the radial gradients of its properties. Comparing the local stellar kinematics to a chemodynamical model which accounts for these effects, we obtain (U, V, W)(circle dot) =(11.1(-0.75)(+0.69), 12.24(-0.47)(+0.47), 7.25(-0.36)(+0.37)) km s(-1), with additional systematic uncertainties similar to(1, 2, 0.5) km s(-1). In particular, V(circle dot) is 7 kms(-1) larger than previously estimated. The new values of (U, V, W)(circle dot) are extremely insensitive to the metallicity gradient within the disc.