Anomalies in the Counts of Low Redshift Quasars

Abstract

The commonly held view by astronomers and cosmologists is that redshift indicates distance for both galaxies and quasars. However, data from over 750,000 quasars, and specifically about 9500 with high accuracy measurements in the redshift range 0.05 to 0.25, contained in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release DR16 indicates several anomalies that might indicate that many quasars do not follow the same redshift-distance relationship as measured for galaxies. Also, while the commonly held view is that quasars are, in general, much brighter than galaxies, in the redshift range up to 0.5, this is not the case in the nearby universe. Two proposals are given that might explain why quasars do not follow the same redshift-distance relationship as measured for galaxies and why they might be fainter than galaxies at lower redshifts. Astronomers are urged to find more quasars in the redshift range 0 < Z < 1.0 in order to clarify the luminosity distribution function of quasars at low redshift.