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Interpreting Hubble’s Law Barbara Ryden Department of Astronomy The Ohio State University
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All physics & astronomy majors should take a cosmology course as a “capstone” experience. thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, classical dynamics, general relativity, nuclear physics, atomic physics, particle physics…
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historical For non-science majors, a historical overview of cosmology emphasizes how new observations lead to new cosmological models.
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Malcolm Longair (1993) QJRAS, 34, 157:
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Hubble (1929) PNAS, 15, 168
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Lesson: Typos happen. Hubble (1929) PNAS, 15, 168
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What are “VELOCITY” and “DISTANCE”? Hubble (1929) PNAS, 15, 168
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Humason (1931) ApJ, 74, 35
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“VELOCITY” = c z, where c = speed of light and z = percentage shift in wavelength of light. Observation = redshift (z) Interpretation = velocity (v) (Mt. Wilson Observatory, 1931)
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Possible interpretations of the observed redshift: Doppler shift: z = v/c (Galaxies are moving away from the observer through space.) Gravitational redshift: z = v esc /c (More distant galaxies are more luminous, and have deeper potential wells.) Cosmological redshift: z = a observation /a emission - 1 (In the limit of small redshift, z = v/c, where v is the relative speed of emitter and observer due to expansion of space.) Tired light: z = E emission /E observation - 1 (Photons lose energy as they move through static space.)
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Hubble (1929) PNAS, 15, 168
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Andromeda Galaxy: 2 million light-years away Big Problem Big Problem for Astronomers: no sense of depth looking at the sky. minutes Comet Hale-Bopp: 10 light-minutes away
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Lesson: measuring the distance to an astronomical object is damnably difficult. Hubble used the “standard candle” method.
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Obvious problem with standard candles: if your assumed luminosity is crap, your computed distance is Edwin Hubble fell into this trap. (Beware of “appeal to authority”: even Homer nods.)
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0.050 0.061 0.49 0.88 0.77 0.80 7.2 5.0 8.0 3.6 3.2 3.7 10. 5.4 4.7 12. 9.0 14. 7.5 12. 17. 16. 17. Hubble (1929) PNAS, 15, 168
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Hubble’s law in mathematical form: v = H 0 r v = “velocity” r = “distance” H 0 = Hubble constant Hubble’s value of the Hubble constant ≈ 500 km/s/Mpc WMAP value = 71.0 ± 2.5 km/s/Mpc
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Not-as-obvious problem with standard candles: our equation assumes Euclidean geometry. What if Euclid nods on large scales? Another problem with standard candles: our equation assumes photon energy is conserved. Redshifted photons lose energy.
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But wait! These aren’t problems, they are opportunities! Deviations of Hubble’s law from a straight line at large distance/redshift tells us about the expansion history of the universe.
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One set of observations … many possible interpretations. both Hubble acknowledged the existence of both Doppler shifts and cosmological redshifts.
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