QUASAR JET EXCEEDS 7 TIMES THE SPEED OF LIGHT

Animation of a series of radio images of 3C 345 at 10.7 GHz over the span of 5 years, if the object was really extragalactic at 1700 MegaParsecs as most cosmologists claim, its jets would be exceeding 7 times the speed of light ! (courtesy John Biretta/Space Telecope Science Institute)

Varshni (1974) has shown that quasar redshift is merely an empty number without physical significance, quasars are stars within the galaxy. However, despite the overwhelming amount of contradictory data, the astronomical community still persists in assuming that the redshift is a valid distance indicator from which they incorrectly deduce that quasars are extra-galactic. The gross overestimation of quasar distance has led to spurious paradoxical properties such as superluminal motion, one of four paradoxes of Kellermann (1972), which we now discuss:

The paragraphs offset from the margin and bulleted are direct quotes from Kellermann (1972), the remaining text is the reviewers comments:

In the context of the plasma laser star theory we have shown that quasar red shift is a number without physical significance. Kellermann (1972) a highly respected radio astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) has corroborated these findings based on observations in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. He stated these paradoxes succinctly in Table I.

The first and second paradoxes were discussed in Varshni (1979); the redshift obtained from optical quasar spectra has absolutely no correlation with apparent magnitude. The third paradox was discussed in Varshni (1976a); the largest angular size-redshift diagram for quasars is shown to be a consequence of the distribution of their redshifts and has no intrinsic physical significance. The fourth paradox was discussed in Varshni (1982).

• Today, modern radio telescopes can observe sources more than one million times weaker than Cygnus A. If these sources have the same absolute luminosity as Cygnus, then they are expected to be 100 to 1000 times more distant, and far beyond the limits of even the largest optical telescope.

• So, while we radio astronomers may claim to be able to see further out in the universe than anyone, unfortunately we don't know 'where' we are looking, and we don't known 'what' we are looking at.

• When the studies are confined to a complete sample of quasars, the results are dominated by an apparent evolution of source density or luminosity with distance (or epoch) (e.g. Schmidt 1968), and little is revealed about the geometry of the universe.

• The evidence for evolution thus depends entirely on the acceptance of the quasar red shift as cosmological... since there are no sharp features in the radio spectra of galaxies and quasars, there is no way to determine their distances from radio measurements alone.

• In spite of the great effort which has gone into the determination of red shifts, the lack of progress in using these data to distinguish between the different cosmological models has been disappointing, particularly in view of the large amount of observing time which has been used on the largest optical telescopes.

• It is this effect which Hubble attempted, with only partial success, to observe by means of optical-galaxy counts, and which in fact led him to question the interpretation of the red shifts as a recession velocity, 25 years before the discovery of quasars (Hubble 1936a) !

• I do not, however, put much weight on arguments supporting the synchrotron mechanism which are based on the observed existence of polarization, since almost any nonthermal emission process will produce partially polarized radiation.

• The problem is that if the quasars are at cosmological distances the rapid intensity variations appear to require unacceptably large energies (e.g. Pauliny-Toth and Kellermann 1966) ... The reason for this is that, if, as has been commonly assumed, significant fluctuations in intensity cannot occur in times less than the light travel time across the source without 'blurring' the observed variation, then the observations put a limit on the linear dimensions typically of the order of one light year. If the quasars are at cosmological distances, then this corresponds to angular sizes well under 10^-3 arcsec and magnetic fields less than 10^-5 G. In such weak fields, the energy in the form of relativistic particles required to explain the observed radio emission is then typically greater than 10^58 erg generated in one year or less. Even in these days when violent events in quasars and the nuclei of galaxies are commonly accepted, the thought of energy generation at the rate of 10^51 erg/sec lasting one year or more seems too fantastic for most to accept. For this reason, it was suggested that quasars were not as cosmological distances ... The observations therefore suggest that the sources are closer than indicated by their red shift

• Also there is, of course, still considerable doubt among some about the cosmological origin of the quasar redshift.

• As is outlined in the table, in each case it appears that unless there is some close and subtle connection between the properties of the radio sources and their red shift, or that the entire class of general relativistic cosmologies is inappropriate to our particular universe, it is difficult to reconcile the observed red shifts with the apparent lack of any other distance indicator. It is indeed disappointing, and perhaps cause for concern, that so far it has not been possible to detect the expected effect of the red shift on the observed intensity, angular size, or spectra of extragalactic radio sources.

• If the large observed red shifts are of cosmological origin, then it appears that the only way in which we can save our accepted models of the universe is by introducing somewhat arbitrary systematic changes with distance in the density or luminosity, in the spectra, and in the linear dimensions of radio sources. The question is, 'Are we drawing too many epicycles ?'

	Linear Size versus Luminosity For 1.4 Ghz radio sources brighter that 2 jansky, the distribution of linear size versus luminosity is a scatter diagram (Condon, 1991), there is no correlation between these properties implying that the distance determination method is faulty.
	Redshift versus Spectral Index The distribution of redshift versus spectral index at 1.4 GHz is also a scatter diagram (Condon, 1991), a strong indication that the redshift is a number without physical significance.

• The counts of radio sources, in particular, appear to be as inconclusive as the optical-galaxy counts from which Hubble concluded more that 30 years ago that if the red shifts are interpreted as velocity shifts, he comments :

• One can't help but wonder what choice Hubble would make today, but his conclusion in 1936 that 'there is little excuse for the observer to weigh possibilities, because in due course, the 200 inch reflector will presumably furnish definitive tests'

(N.B.: The Oschin Schmidt was used to carry out the original National Geographic-Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), whose plates are still widely used by the astronomical community)

REFERENCES

1. Biretta also discovered that M 87 is also travelling at 6 times the speed of light
2. Hubble,E.: 1936a, Proc.Nat.Acad.Sci. 22, 621.
3. Condon,J.J.: 1991, in Galactic and Extragalactic Radio Astronomy, 2nd ed. p.641, eds. Kellermann, K.I, Vershuur,G.L., Springer Verlag.
4. Kellermann, K.I: 1972, Astron.J. 77, 531. 'Radio Galaxies, Quasars, and Cosmology'
5. Kellermann,K.I., Owen,F.N.: 1988 in Galactic and Extragalactic Radio Astronomy, Verschuur,G.L., Kellermann,K.I. (eds) p.563 (Springer, New York)
6. Schmidt,A.: 1968, Astrophys.J. 151, 393.
7. Pauliny-Toth,I.I.K., Kellermann,K.I.: 1966, Astrophys.J. 146, 634.
8. Web link to POSS data and Minnesota Univ. Plate Scanning Project at NSSDC.

• ... if the quasars are much closer than indicated by their redshift, then of course the linear velocities may be less than the speed of light. Moreover, the apparent inverse Compton catastrophe implied by the rapid flux density variations is then no longer a problem. - Kellermann et al. (1988)