1,169 research outputs found
The Age-Redshift Relationship of Old Passive Galaxies
We use 32 age measurements of passively evolving galaxies as a function of
redshift to test and compare the standard model (CDM) with the Universe. We show that the latter fits the data with a reduced
for a Hubble constant km
. By comparison, the optimal flat CDM
model, with two free parameters (including and km ), fits the age-\emph{z} data with a reduced .
Based solely on their values, both models appear to account
for the data very well, though the optimized CDM parameters are only
marginally consistent with those of the concordance model ( and km ). Fitting the age-
data with the latter results in a reduced . However,
because of the different number of free parameters in these models, selection
tools, such as the Akaike, Kullback and Bayes Information Criteria, favour
over CDM with a likelihood of
versus . These results are suggestive, though not yet
compelling, given the current limited galaxy age- sample. We carry out Monte
Carlo simulations based on these current age measurements to estimate how large
the sample would have to be in order to rule out either model at a confidence level. We find that if the real cosmology is CDM, a
sample of galaxy ages would be sufficient to rule out
at this level of accuracy, while galaxy ages would be required to
rule out CDM if the real Universe were instead .Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journal. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1405.238
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