We apply a new algorithm , called the Unbiased Minimal Variance ( hereafter UMV ) estimator , to reconstruct the cosmic density and peculiar velocity fields in our local universe from the SEcat catalog of peculiar velocities comprising both early ( ENEAR ) and late type ( SFI ) galaxies .
The reconstructed fields are compared with those predicted from the IRAS PSC z galaxy redshift survey to constrain the value of \beta = \Omega _ { m } ^ { 0.6 } / b , where \Omega _ { m } and b are the mass density and the bias parameters .
The comparison of the density and velocity fields is carried out within the same methodological framework , and leads , for the first time , to consistent values of \beta , yielding \beta = 0.57 _ { -0.13 } ^ { +0.11 } and \beta = 0.51 \pm { 0.06 } , respectively .

We find that the distribution of the density and velocity residuals , relative to their respective errors , is consistent with a Gaussian distribution with \sigma \approx 1 , indicating that the density field predicted from the PSC z is an acceptable fit to that deduced from the peculiar velocities of the SEcat galaxies .