1112.5045 (Michael J. Longo)

An Anomaly in the Angular Distribution of Quasar Spectra    [PDF]

Michael J. Longo

Quasars provide our most distant view of the Universe. The Sloan Survey now contains over 100,000 quasar candidates. A careful look at the angular distribution of quasar spectra shows a surprising blue shift toward (alpha, delta) ~ (190{\deg}, 0{\deg}). The angular distribution of the shift appears to be consistent with a large peculiar velocity toward that direction. However, the size of the shift would suggest our peculiar velocity is ~0.2 c, which is two orders of magnitude larger than measures of our peculiar velocity from nearby galaxies and cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. It is too large to explain as a systematic error in the quasar magnitudes. The direction is consistent with that of the reported anomalies in the CMB, the so-called "axis of evil". The angular pattern of the blue shift appears to be consistent with the existence of an expanding bubble universe in that direction, which could also explain the CMB anomalies.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.5045