Starship Asterisk*

[i]Illustration of the concept of Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations [b]Credit: Chris Blake & Sam Moorfield[/b][/i]

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For the first time researchers have measured large distances in the Universe using data, rather than calculations related to general relativity.

A research team from Imperial College London and the University of Barcelona has used data from astronomical surveys to measure a standard distance that is central to our understanding of the expansion of the universe.

Previously the size of this ‘standard ruler’ has only been predicted from theoretical models that rely on general relativity to explain gravity at large scales. The new study is the first to measure it using observed data. A standard ruler is an object which consistently has the same physical size so that a comparison of its actual size to its size in the sky will provide a measurement of its distance to earth.

“Our research suggests that current methods for measuring distance in the Universe are more complicated than they need to be,” said Professor Alan Heavens ... “Traditionally in cosmology, general relativity plays a central role in most models and interpretations. We have demonstrated that current data are powerful enough to measure the geometry and expansion history of the Universe without relying on calculations relating to general relativity." ...

• Physical Review Letters 113 241302 (11 Dec 2014) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.241302
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1409.6217 > 22 Sep 2014 (v1), 18 Nov 2014 (v2)