The distribution of quasar redshifts

The confidence level of the periodicity is reinvestigated for the much larger number of quasars listed in the new catalog of Hewitt and Burbidge (1980). Consideration is also given to the possible origin of the periodicity and its cosmological implication (Fang et al., 1982). The fundamental idea of the model proposed here is that the periodicity might be the remains of density wave (sound) perturbations occurring just before the recombination epoch of big bang cosmology. Some soundlike fluctuations occurring immediately before the recombination with large wavelength become the 'seed' of Jeans instability after that time. It is noted that the periodic structure of the seeds could then be preserved and amplified by the clustering at successive times.