Journal article
A challenge to the standard cosmological model
- Abstract:
- We present the first joint analysis of catalogs of radio galaxies and quasars to determine whether their sky distribution is consistent with the standard ΛCDM model of cosmology. This model is based on the cosmological principle, which asserts that the universe is statistically isotropic and homogeneous on large scales, so the observed dipole anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) must be attributed to our local peculiar motion. We test the null hypothesis that there is a dipole anisotropy in the sky distribution of radio galaxies and quasars consistent with the motion inferred from the CMB, as is expected for cosmologically distant sources. Our two samples, constructed respectively from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, are systematically independent and have no shared objects. Using a completely general statistic that accounts for correlation between the found dipole amplitude and its directional offset from the CMB dipole, the null hypothesis is independently rejected by the radio galaxy and quasar samples with p-values of 8.9 × 10−3 and 1.2 × 10−5, respectively, corresponding to 2.6σ and 4.4σ significance. The joint significance, using sample-size-weighted Z-scores, is 5.1σ. We show that the radio galaxy and quasar dipoles are consistent with each other and find no evidence for any frequency dependence of the amplitude. The consistency of the two dipoles improves if we boost to the CMB frame assuming its dipole to be fully kinematic, suggesting that cosmologically distant radio galaxies and quasars may have an intrinsic anisotropy in this frame.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 793.6KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3847/2041-8213/ac88c0
Authors
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Host title:
- arXiv
- Journal:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters More from this journal
- Volume:
- 937
- Issue:
- 2
- Pages:
- L31
- Publication date:
- 2022-08-28
- Acceptance date:
- 2022-08-11
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2041-8213
- ISSN:
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2041-8205
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
1264891
- Local pid:
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pubs:1264891
- Deposit date:
-
2023-11-23
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Secrest et al
- Copyright date:
- 2022
- Rights statement:
- © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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