  Using N-body simulations of flat, dark energy dominated cosmologies, we show
that galaxies around simulated binary systems resembling the Local Group (LG)
have low peculiar velocities, in good agreement with observational data. We
have compared results for LG-like systems selected from large, high resolution
simulations of three cosmologies: a LCDM model, a LWDM model with a 2 keV warm
dark matter candidate and a quintessence model (QCDM) with an equation of state
parameter w=-0.6.
  The Hubble flow is significant colder around LGs selected in a flat, Lambda
dominated cosmology than around LGs in open or critical models, showing that a
dark energy component manifests itself on the scales of nearby galaxies,
cooling galaxy peculiar motions. Flows in the LWDM and QCDM models are
marginally colder than in the LCDM one.
  The results of our simulations have been compared to existing data and a new
data set of 28 nearby galaxies with robust distance measures (Cepheids and
Surface Brightness Fluctuations). The measured line-of-sight velocity
dispersion is sigma = 88 +- 20 km/sec x (R/7 Mpc). The best agreement with
observations is found for LGs selected in the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology in
environments with -0.1 <delta_rho/rho < 0.6 on scales of 7 Mpc, in agreement
with existing observational estimates on the local matter density.
  These results provide new, independent evidence for the presence of dark
energy on scales of few Mpc, corroborating the evidence gathered from
observations of distant objects and the early Universe.
