A NEW COSMOLOGICAL DISTANCE MEASURE USING ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

Accurate distances to celestial objects are key to establishing the age and energy density of the universe and the nature of dark energy. A distance measure using active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has been sought for more than 40 years, as they are extremely luminous and can be observed at very large distances. We report here the discovery of an accurate luminosity distance measure using AGNs. We use the tight relationship between the luminosity of an AGN and the radius of its broad-line region established via reverberation mapping to determine the luminosity distances to a sample of 38 AGNs. All reliable distance measures up to now have been limited to moderate redshift—AGNs will, for the first time, allow distances to be estimated to z ~ 4, where variations of dark energy and alternate gravity theories can be probed.

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