Measuring the speed of light with ultra-compact radio quasars

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2017/02/012· OSTI ID:22680039

Cao, Shuo; Biesiada, Marek; Jackson, John; Zheng, Xiaogang; Zhao, Yuhang; Zhu, Zong-Hong ^[1]

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1. Department of Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875 (China)

In this paper, based on a 2.29 GHz VLBI all-sky survey of 613 milliarcsecond ultra-compact radio sources with 0.0035< z <3.787, we describe a method of identifying the sub-sample which can serve as individual standard rulers in cosmology. If the linear size of the compact structure is assumed to depend on source luminosity and redshift as l {sub m} = l L {sup β} (1+ z ) {sup n} , only intermediate-luminosity quasars (10{sup 27} W/Hz< L < 10{sup 28} W/Hz) show negligible dependence (| n |≅ 10{sup −3}, |β|≅ 10{sup −4}), and thus represent a population of such rulers with fixed characteristic length l =11.42 pc. With a sample of 120 such sources covering the redshift range 00.46< z <2.8, we confirm the existence of dark energy in the Universe with high significance under the assumption of a flat universe, and obtain stringent constraints on both the matter density Ω {sub m} =0.323{sup +0.245}{sub −0.145} and the Hubble constant H {sub 0}=66.30{sup +7.00}{sub −8.50} km sec{sup −1} Mpc{sup −1}. Finally, with the angular diameter distances D {sub A} measured for quasars extending to high redshifts (0 z ∼ 3.), we reconstruct the D {sub A} ( z ) function using the technique of Gaussian processes. This allows us to identify the redshift corresponding to the maximum of the D {sub A} ( z ) function: 0 z {sub m} =1.7 and the corresponding angular diameter distance D {sub A} ( z {sub m} )=1719.01±43.46 Mpc. Similar reconstruction of the expansion rate function H ( z ) based on the data from cosmic chronometers and BAO gives us H ( z {sub m} )=176.77±6.11 km sec{sup −1} Mpc{sup −1}. These measurements are used to estimate the speed of light: c =3.039(±0.180)× 10{sup 5} km/s. This is the first measurement of the speed of light in a cosmological setting referring to the distant past.

• OSTI ID: 22680039
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 02 Vol. 2017; ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMOLOGY
DENSITY
DISTANCE
EXPANSION
GAUSSIAN PROCESSES
GHZ RANGE
LUMINOSITY
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
QUASARS
RED SHIFT
UNIVERSE
VELOCITY
VISIBLE RADIATION