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Redshift quantization or redshift periodicity is the hypothesis that the redshifts of galaxies tend to cluster around multiples of some particular value. Since there is a correlation of distance and redshift as expressed in Hubble's Law, redshift quantization would either indicate a quantization of the distances of galaxies from the Earth or a problem with the redshift-distance correlation, either of which would have serious implications for various standard cosmological models and alternative cosmological models.

The first researcher who claimed to observe such a clustering was William G. Tifft . Recent redshift surveys of quasars (QSOs) have found no evidence of quantization , and consequently most cosmologists dispute the existence of any redshift quantization.

Background

"Redshift-magnitude banding correlation" as he first called it, was first investigated in the 1970s by (now Emeritus Professor of astronomy) William G. Tifft He wrote:

"Using more than 200 redshifts in Coma, Perseus, and A2199, the presence of a distinct band-related periodicity in redshifts is indicated. Finally, a new sample of accurate redshifts of bright Coma galaxies on a single band is presented, which shows a strong redshift periodicity of 220 km s. An upper limit of 20 km s is placed on the internal Doppler redshift component of motion in the Coma cluster".

In summary, Tiffts notes that:

"Redshift quantization has three main facets: 1) the internal organization of galaxies, 2) differential effects between galaxies in physical systems, 3) global effects linking all galaxies and cosmology. The subject originated as an outgrowth of redshift correlation studies including studies of internal kinematics of galaxies. While possibly central to understanding redshift quantization, this aspect is complex and largely undeveloped. The bulk of the evidence for redshift quantization comes from differential and global periodicity testing."

"The work has developed within three broad categories, beginning with, (1), correlations between the redshift and intrinsic properties of galaxies. These studies quickly led to the discovery of apparent redshift quantization which provides the second type of test. (2) Is the redshift a discrete or continuous quantity? The need for high precision and a thorough understanding of uncertainties led more recently to the detection of apparent redshift variability which provides a third form of testing. (3) Is the redshift rapidly variable? Throughout the development of the program it has seemed increasingly clear that the redshift has properties inconsistent with a simple velocity and/or cosmic scale change interpretation. Various implications have been pointed out from time to time, but basically the work is observationally driven."

Independent studies

In 1989, an independent study by Martin R. Croasdale, found that:

"Using new data for unassociated galaxies with wide H I profiles and values of period and solar motion predicted by Tifft and Cocke (1984), a periodicity has been found which is significant at the conventional 5 percent level. Together with Tifft's work on galaxy pairs and small groups, this result appears to provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis that measured galaxy redshifts occur in steps of a little more than 72 km/s or a simple multiple of this period."

In 1990, B. Guthrie and William Napier found mixed results:

"No such periodicity is found for the dwarf irregulars, but there is a possible periodicity of about 71.1 km/s for the bright spirals. In a further exploratory study, the sample of 112 spirals is divided up according to environment. The spirals in high-density regions of the cluster show no quantization, whereas those in low-density regions appear to be partially quantized in intervals of about 71.0 km/s."

A year later, another study of theirs found:

"A strong periodicity of about 37.2 km/s is found, against a white noise background, for an assumed solar vector coincidental, within the uncertainties, with that corresponding to the sun's probable motion around the Galactic Center. Comparison with sets of synthetic data simulating the overall characteristics of the real data show the periodicity to be present at a high confidence level. As an independent test, the sample was divided into two groups of 40 and 49 galaxies with more and less accurately determined redshifts, respectively. The measured strength of the periodicity is significantly greater for the group of 40 galaxies. The overall probability that the periodicity of 37.2 km/s arises by chance is in the range of 3 x 10 exp -6 and exp -4."

In 1992, A. Holba, et al concluded:

"The space distribution of the sample by Broadhurst et al (1990) reveals a periodicity much better than that originally found by them, if the parameters of the cosmological model used to convert redshift to distance lie in a long a fairly wide strip periodicity may have not only geometrical but physical explanations too."

Criticism

Some researchers have suggested that redshift quantizations are manifestations of other phenomena, or not present at all.

In 1987, E. Sepulveda suggested that a geometric paradigm based on the polytrope theory could account for all redshift periodicities, and that:

The smallest periodicities (Δz=72, 144 km/sec) are due to parallel line segments of galactic clustering. The largest (Δz=0.15) are due to circumferential circuits around the universe. Intermediate periodicities are due to other geometric irregularities. These periodicities or apparent quantizations are relics or faithful fossils of a real quantization that occured in the primordial atom".

In 2005, Tang, Su Min, et al:

".. 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 noncosmological redshifts. For two different intrinsic redshift models, and find there is no evidence for a periodicity at the predicted frequency in log(1+z), or at any other frequency. "

Footnotes

1. Tifft, W. G., "Fine Structure Within the Redshift-Magnitude Correlation for Galaxies", The Formation and Dynamics of Galaxies: Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 58 held in Canberra, Australia, August 12-15, 1973. Edited by John R. Shakeshaft. International Astronomical Union. Symposium no. 58, Dordrecht; Boston: Reidel, p.243
2. Tang, Su Min; Zhang, Shuang Nan, "Critical Examinations of QSO Redshift Periodicities and Associations with Galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data", in The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 633, Issue 1, pp. 41-51 (2005)
3. Tifft, W. G., "Periodicity in the redshift intervals for double galaxies", in Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 236, Feb. 15, 1980, p. 70-74.
4. Tifft, W. G., "Fine Structure Within the Redshift-Magnitude Correlation for Galaxies", The Formation and Dynamics of Galaxies: Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 58 held in Canberra, Australia, August 12-15, 1973. Edited by John R. Shakeshaft. International Astronomical Union. Symposium no. 58, Dordrecht; Boston: Reidel, p.243
5. Tifft, W. G., "Redshift Quantization - A Review", Astrophysics and Space Science, v. 227, p. 25-39, 1995
6. Croasdale, Martin R., "Periodicities in galaxy redshifts", Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 345, Oct. 1, 1989, p. 72-83.
7. Guthrie, B. N. G.; Napier, W. M., "The Virgo cluster as a test for quantization of extragalactic redshifts", Royal Astronomical Society, Monthly Notices (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 243, April 1, 1990, p. 431-442.
8. Guthrie, B. N. G.; Napier, W. M., "Evidence for redshift periodicity in nearby field galaxies", Royal Astronomical Society, Monthly Notices (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 253, Dec. 1, 1991, p. 533-544.
9. Holba, A., Horvath, I., Lukacs, B., & Paal, G, "Cosmological parameters and redshift periodicity", Astrophysics and Space Science (ISSN 0004-640X), vol. 198, no. 1, p. 111-120. 1992. See also reference to Broadhurst et al
10. Sepulveda, E., "Geometric Paradigm Accounts for All Redshift Periodicities" (1987) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 19, p.689
11. Tang, Su Min; Zhang, Shuang Nan, "Critical Examinations of QSO Redshift Periodicities and Associations with Galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data", in The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 633, Issue 1, pp. 41-51 (2005)