An Anomaly in the Angular Distribution of Quasar Spectra

TL;DR

The paper reports a surprising large-scale anisotropy in quasar spectra distribution, suggesting a possible large-scale cosmic anomaly or bubble universe aligned with CMB anomalies.

Contribution

It identifies a significant angular pattern in quasar spectra shifts, proposing a novel large-scale cosmic feature consistent with CMB anomalies.

Findings

Detection of a 'bullseye' pattern in quasar distribution.

Large apparent peculiar velocity inconsistent with known measures.

Possible evidence for an expanding bubble universe.

Abstract

Quasars provide our farthest-reaching view of the Universe. The Sloan Survey now contains over 100,000 quasar candidates. A careful look at the angular distribution of quasar spectra shows a surprising "bullseye" pattern on the sky toward (RA, Dec) ~ (190{\deg}, 0{\deg}) for all wavelengths from UV through infrared. The angular distribution of the shift in the UV suggests a large peculiar velocity vp toward that direction. However, the size of the shift would indicate a vp ~0.2 c, which is two orders of magnitude larger than measures of our peculiar velocity from nearby galaxies and cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. The angular pattern and size of the shift is very similar for all wavelengths, which is inconsistent with a Doppler shift. The shift is also too large to explain as a systematic error in the quasar magnitudes. The anomaly appears to be a very large hotspot in the Universe. Its direction is close to that of the reported anomalies in the CMB, the so-called "axis of evil". The angular pattern of the shift and its redshift dependence are consistent with the existence of an expanding bubble universe in that direction, which could also explain the CMB anomalies.