Related papers: Are quasars reliable standard candles?
We explore the feasibility of resurrecting the apparent magnitude-redshift relation for a ``standard candle'' to measure the cosmological constant and mass density. We show that type Ia supernovae, if measured with 0.15 mag uncertainty out…
Standard cosmology is constructed upon the (generally implicit) assumption of the ``large scale'' homogeneity of our Universe. Now, structures are observed at scales which become larger and larger as the observational distances increase.…
Several recent observations using standard rulers and standard candles now suggest, either individually or in combination, that the Universe is close to flat, i.e. that the curvature radius is about as large as the horizon radius (\sim…
The Cosmic Distance Duality Relation (CDDR) connects the angular diameter distance ($d_A$) and the luminosity distance ($d_L$) at a given redshift. This fundamental relation holds in any metric theory of gravity, provided that photon number…
The symmetry axes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are randomly distributed in space but highly inclined sources are heavily obscured and are not seen as quasars with broad emission lines. The obscuring torus geometry determines the average…
Current estimates of the normalized accretion rates of quasars (L/L_Edd), rely on measuring the velocity widths of broad optical-UV emission lines (e.g., H$\beta$ and Mg II $\lambda2800$). However, such lines tend to be weak or inaccessible…
For decades, H_0 and q_0 were the quest of cosmology, as they promised to characterize our "world model" without reference to a specific cosmological framework. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that q_0 cannot be directly measured…
A remarkable correlation is found in radio-loud quasars and BLLacs when the directly observed angular motions, u, of features ejected in the innermost regions of their jets are plotted on logarithmic scales versus the directly observed 15…
We investigate the use of type Ic Super Luminous Supernovae as standardizable candles and distance indicators. Their appeal as cosmological probes stems from their remarkable peak luminosities, hot blackbody temperatures and bright…
Type 1a supernova magnitudes are used to fit cosmological parameters under the assumption the model will fit the observed redshift dependence. We test this assumption with the Union 2.1 compilation of 580 sources. Several independent tests…
The Hubble relation between distance and redshift is a purely cosmographic relation that depends only on the symmetries of a FLRW spacetime, but does not intrinsically make any dynamical assumptions. This suggests that it should be possible…
In the present work, we apply consistency relation tests to several cosmological models, including the flat and non-flat $\Lambda$CDM models, as well as the flat XCDM model. The analysis uses a non-parametric Gaussian Processes method to…
The standard cosmological model is based on the fundamental assumptions of a spatially homogeneous and isotropic universe on large scales. An observational detection of a violation of these assumptions at any redshift would immediately…
We report on a Hubble Space Telescope search for rest-frame ultraviolet emission from the host galaxies of five far-infrared-luminous $z\simeq{}6$ quasars and the $z=5.85$ hot-dust free quasar SDSS J0005-0006. We perform 2D surface…
Quasars have reigned as the most luminous and distant objects in the Universe. These concepts were based on the hypothesis that the redshifts of quasars are obeying the Hubble low. This hypothesis has little serious competition today, but…
We analyze the ultraviolet (UV) emission line and continuum properties of five low-redshift active galactic nuclei (four luminous quasars: PKS~0405$-$123, H1821+643, PG~0953+414, and 3C273, and one bright Seyfert 1 galaxy: Mrk~205). The HST…
In this paper we examine magnitudes of quasars as a function of redshift in different frequency ranges (u,g,r,i,z). We show that on the smoothed curves mag(Z) in frequency ranges u,g,r there are characteristic features both similar for all…
The evolution of optically selected quasars is usually supposed to be well described by a single constant parameter, either k_L or k_D, depending whether we refer to luminosity or density evolution. In this paper we present a study of the…
Although the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model is the most accredited cosmological model, information at high redshifts ($z$) between type Ia supernovae ($z=2.26$) and the Cosmic Microwave Background ($z=1100$) is crucial to validate this…
We present a well-designed sample of more than 1000 type 1 quasars at $3.5<z<5$ and derive UV quasar luminosity functions (QLFs) in this redshift range. These quasars were selected using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data in…