PERIODICITY IN THE LN (1+Z) DISTRIBUTION OF QUASARS.

The distribution of quasar emission-line redshifts as a function of metric distance, radial coordinate, luminosity distance, and light travel time is investigated in several cosmological models where these parameters are not linear functions of redshift. A highly significant periodicity is found in the quasar distribution as a function of ln(1+z), which is the metric distance in the Milne model and the metric distance as well as the light travel time in the FIB static model. The ln(1+z) histogram of 442 quasars with published redshifts is shown to exhibit a distinct periodicity if certain selection procedures are adopted, and the histogram obtained after omitting the redshifts of 34 'dubious' quasars is found to exhibit five broad maxima and four deep narrow minima. A power-spectrum analysis of 352 ln(1+z) values remaining after omission of the high- and low-redshift regions in the histogram yields a periodicity of about 0.203 at a confidence level better than 99.99%, which is considered to be a novel property of quasars with some cosmological significance.