1. Model-independent confirmation of a constant speed of light over cosmological distances.
- Author
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Melia, Fulvio
- Subjects
- *
COSMOLOGICAL distances , *SPEED of light , *REDSHIFT , *MEASUREMENT errors , *QUASARS , *CHRONOMETERS - Abstract
Recent attempts at measuring the variation of c using an assortment of standard candles and the redshift-dependent Hubble expansion rate inferred from the currently available catalogue of cosmic chronometers have tended to show that the speed of light appears to be constant, at least up to z ∼ 2. A notable exception is the use of high-redshift ultraviolet + X-ray quasars, whose Hubble diagram seems to indicate an ∼2.7σ deviation of c from its value c 0 (≡ 2.99792458 × 1010 cm s−1) on Earth. We show in this paper, however, that this anomaly is due to an error in the derived relation between the luminosity distance, D L, and H (z) when c is allowed to vary with redshift, and an imprecise calibration of the quasar catalogue. When these deficiencies are addressed correctly, one finds that c / c 0 = 0.95 ± 0.14 in the redshift range 0 ≲ z ≲ 2, fully consistent with zero variation within the measurement errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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