Six Peaks Visible in the Redshift Distribution of 46,400 SDSS Quasars Agree with the Preferred Redshifts Predicted by the Decreasing Intrinsic Redshift Model

The redshift distribution of all 46,400 quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog III, Third Data Release, is examined. Six Peaks that fall within the redshift window below z = 4, are visible. Their positions agree with the preferred redshift values predicted by the decreasing intrinsic redshift (DIR) model, even though this model was derived using completely independent evidence. A power spectrum analysis of the full dataset confirms the presence of a single, significant power peak at the expected redshift period. Power peaks with the predicted period are also obtained when the upper and lower halves of the redshift distribution are examined separately. The periodicity detected is in linear z, as opposed to log(1+z). Because the peaks in the SDSS quasar redshift distribution agree well with the preferred redshifts predicted by the intrinsic redshift relation, we conclude that this relation, and the peaks in the redshift distribution, likely both have the same origin, and this may be intrinsic redshifts, or a common selection effect. However, because of the way the intrinsic redshift relation was determined it seems unlikely that one selection effect could have been responsible for both.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Distances of Quasars and Quasar-Like Galaxies: Further Evidence that QSOs may be Ejected from Active Galaxies

If high-redshift QSOs are ejected from the nuclei of low-redshift galaxies, as some have claimed, a large portion of their redshift must be intrinsic (non-Doppler). If these intrinsic components have preferred values, redshifts will tend to cluster around these preferred values and produce peaks in the redshift distribution. Doppler ejection and Hubble flow components will broaden each peak. Because ejection velocities are randomly directed and Hubble flow components are always positive, in this model all peaks are expected to show an asymmetry, extending further out in the red wing. If peaks are present showing this predicted asymmetry, it can lead directly to an estimate of quasar distances. Using two quasar samples, one with high redshifts and one with low, it is shown here that not only do all peaks in these two redshift distributions occur at previously predicted preferred values, they also all show the predicted extra extension in the red wing. For the low and high redshift samples the mean cosmological components are found to be z$_{c} \sim 0.024$ and $\sim 0.066$, respectively. The difference can be explained by the improved detection limit of the high redshift sample. These results offer further evidence in favor of the model proposing that QSOs are ejected from active galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Critical Examinations of QSO Redshift Periodicities and Associations with Galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data

We have used the publicly available data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 2dF QSO Redshift Survey to test the hypothesis that QSOs are ejected from active galaxies with periodic non-cosmological redshifts. For two different intrinsic redshift models, namely the Karlsson $\log(1+z)$ model and Bell's decreasing intrinsic redshift (DIR) model, we do two tests respectively. First, using different criteria, we generate four sets of QSO-galaxy pairs and find there is no evidence for a periodicity at the predicted frequency in $\log(1+z)$, or at any other frequency. We then check the relationship between high redshift QSOs and nearby active galaxies, and we find the distribution of projected distance between high redshift QSOs and nearby active galaxies and the distribution of redshifts of those active galaxies are consistent with a distribution of simulated random pairs, completely different from Bell's previous conclusion. We also analyze the periodicity in redshifts of QSOs, and no periodicity is found in high completeness samples, contrary to the DIR model. These results support that QSOs are not ejected from active galaxies.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The Distribution of Redshifts in New Samples of Quasi-stellar Objects

Two new samples of QSOs have been constructed from recent surveys to test the hypothesis that the redshift distribution of bright QSOs is periodic in $\log(1+z)$. The first of these comprises 57 different redshifts among all known close pairs or multiple QSOs, with image separations $\leq$ 10\arcsec, and the second consists of 39 QSOs selected through their X-ray emission and their proximity to bright comparatively nearby active galaxies. The redshift distributions of the samples are found to exhibit distinct peaks with a periodic separation of $\sim 0.089$ in $\log(1+z)$ identical to that claimed in earlier samples but now extended out to higher redshift peaks $z = 2.63, 3.45$ and 4.47, predicted by the formula but never seen before. The periodicity is also seen in a third sample, the 78 QSOs of the 3C and 3CR catalogues. It is present in these three datasets at an overall significance level $10^{-5}$ - $10^{-6}$, and appears not to be explicable by spectroscopic or similar selection effects. Possible interpretations are briefly discussed.Comment: submitted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 15 figure

Polarized Neutron Laue Diffraction on a Crystal Containing Dynamically Polarized Proton Spins

We report on a polarized-neutron Laue diffraction experiment on a single crystal of neodynium doped lanthanum magnesium nitrate hydrate containing polarized proton spins. By using dynamic nuclear polarization to polarize the proton spins, we demonstrate that the intensities of the Bragg peaks can be enhanced or diminished significantly, whilst the incoherent background, due to proton spin disorder, is reduced. It follows that the method offers unique possibilities to tune continuously the contrast of the Bragg reflections and thereby represents a new tool for increasing substantially the signal-to-noise ratio in neutron diffraction patterns of hydrogenous matter.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Age-Depth Stratigraphy of Pine Island Glacier Inferred from Airborne Radar and Ice-Core Chronology

Understanding the contribution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) to past and future sea level has been a major scientific priority over the last three decades. In recent years, observed thinning and ice‐flow acceleration of the marine‐based Pine Island Glacier has highlighted that understanding dynamic changes is critical to predicting the long‐term stability of the WAIS. However, relatively little is known about the evolution of the catchment during the Holocene. Internal Reflecting Horizons (IRHs) provide a cumulative record of accumulation, basal melt and ice dynamics that, if dated, can be used to constrain ice‐flow models. Here, we use airborne radars to trace four spatially‐extensive IRHs deposited in the late Quaternary across the Pine Island Glacier catchment. We use the WAIS Divide ice‐core chronology to assign ages to three IRHs: 4.72 ± 0.28, 6.94 ± 0.31, and 16.50 ± 0.79 ka. We use a 1‐D model, constrained by observational and modelled accumulation rates, to produce an independent validation of our ice‐core‐derived ages and provide an age estimate for our shallowest IRH (2.31‐2.92 ka). We find that our upper three IRHs correspond to three large peaks in sulphate concentrations in the WAIS Divide ice‐core record and hypothesise that the origin of these spatially‐extensive IRHs is from past volcanic activity. The clear correspondence between our IRHs and the ones previously identified over the Weddell Sea Sector, altogether representing ∼20% of the WAIS, indicates that a unique set of stratigraphic markers spanning the Holocene exists over a large part of West Antarctica

A measurement of the differential cross section for the two-body photodisintegration of 3He at theta_LAB = 90deg using tagged photons in the energy range 14 -- 31 MeV

The two-body photodisintegration of 3He has been investigated using tagged photons with energies from 14 -- 31 MeV at MAX-lab in Lund, Sweden. The two-body breakup channel was unambiguously identified by the (nonsimultaneous) detection of both protons and deuterons. This approach was made feasible by the over-determined kinematic situation afforded by the tagged-photon technique. Proton- and deuteron-energy spectra were measured using four silicon surface-barrier detector telescopes located at a laboratory angle of 90deg with respect to the incident photon-beam direction. Average statistical and systematic uncertainties of 5.7% and 6.6% in the differential cross section were obtained for 11 photon-energy bins with an average width of 1.2 MeV. The results are compared to previous experimental data measured at comparable photon energies as well as to the results of two recent Faddeev calculations which employ realistic potential models and take into account three-nucleon forces and final-state interactions. Both the accuracy and precision of the present data are improved over the previous measurements. The data are in good agreement with most of the previous results, and favor the inclusion of three-nucleon forces in the calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures; further Referee comments addresse

High-efficiency quantum interrogation measurements via the quantum Zeno effect

The phenomenon of quantum interrogation allows one to optically detect the presence of an absorbing object, without the measuring light interacting with it. In an application of the quantum Zeno effect, the object inhibits the otherwise coherent evolution of the light, such that the probability that an interrogating photon is absorbed can in principle be arbitrarily small. We have implemented this technique, demonstrating efficiencies exceeding the 50% theoretical-maximum of the original ``interaction-free'' measurement proposal. We have also predicted and experimentally verified a previously unsuspected dependence on loss; efficiencies of up to 73% were observed and the feasibility of efficiencies up to 85% was demonstrated.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett; submitted June 11, 199