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Using Quasars as Standard Clocks for Measuring Cosmological Redshift

De-Chang Dai, Glenn D. Starkman, Branislav Stojkovic, Dejan Stojkovic, and Amanda Weltman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 231302 – Published 6 June 2012

Abstract

We report hitherto unnoticed patterns in quasar light curves. We characterize segments of the quasar’s light curves with the slopes of the straight lines fit through them. These slopes appear to be directly related to the quasars’ redshifts. Alternatively, using only global shifts in time and flux, we are able to find significant overlaps between the light curves of different pairs of quasars by fitting the ratio of their redshifts. We are then able to reliably determine the redshift of one quasar from another. This implies that one can use quasars as standard clocks, as we explicitly demonstrate by constructing two independent methods of finding the redshift of a quasar from its light curve.

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  • Received 14 December 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.231302

© 2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

De-Chang Dai1, Glenn D. Starkman2, Branislav Stojkovic3, Dejan Stojkovic4, and Amanda Weltman1

  • 1Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Private Bag, 7700, South Africa
  • 2CERCA/ISO/Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7079, USA
  • 3Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260-1500, USA
  • 4HEPCOS, Department of Physics, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260-1500, USA

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Issue

Vol. 108, Iss. 23 — 8 June 2012

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