# Do 𝐻₀ and 𝑞₀ really have the values we believe they have?

## Abstract

We present an example where a justified modification of the law of propagation of light in a Robertson-Walker model of the universe leads to an identification of $`H_0`$ and $`q_0`$ different from that corresponding to the usual law of propagation along null geodesics. We conclude from this example that observed values which we would associate with the values of $`H_0`$ and $`q_0`$ with the usual interpretation correspond in fact to the values of $`2H_0`$ and $`\frac{1}{2}(q_01)`$. It is therefore possible that observed values that we usually interpret as corresponding to a moderately aged universe with accelerating expansion may in fact correspond a much older universe with a decelerating expansion.

When astronomers say that they obtain from observations the values of the Hubble constant and deceleration parameter of the universe they mean that they measure the slope $`H_0^{}`$ and a curvature related parameter $`q_0^{}`$ at the origin of the Hubble graph:

$$z=H_0^{}d+\frac{1}{2}H_0^2(1+q_0)d^2$$
(1)   
where $`z`$ is the red-shift and $`d`$ is an operationally defined, agreed upon, distance indicator of observed sources.

To confront the observed Hubble graph with theory requires the description of a cosmological model and the theoretical identification of the two parameters $`H_0^{}`$ and $`q_0^{}`$, and the distance indicator $`d`$. The simplest cosmological models assume a Robertson-Walker model with line-element:

$$d\tau ^2=dt^2+F^2(t)N^2(r)\delta _{ij}dx^idx^j,N(r)=1/(1+kr^2/4),r=\sqrt{\delta _{kl}x^kx^l}$$
(2)   
where $`F(t)`$ is the scale factor, $`k`$ the curvature of space, and where units have been chosen such that the universal speed constant $`c`$ is equal to $`1`$.

Assuming also that light behaves in a Robertson-Walker space-time as it does in a pure vacuum domain with minimal coupling of electromagnetism to gravitation, i.e. assuming that light propagates along null geodesics of the line-element above one derives (1) with the following identification:

$$H_0^{}=H_0\frac{\dot{F}}{F},q_0^{}=q_0\frac{\ddot{F}F}{\dot{F}^2}$$
(3)   
and:

$$d=_0^rN(r)𝑑r$$
(4)   
This point of view has been questioned recently in two papers (Refs.  and ) that consider cosmological models with a varying speed of light, either in a framework more general than general relativity, like scalar-tensor theories of gravity or in more general phenomenological approaches.

On the other hand it is also possible to consider a varying speed of light in the framework of general relativity as it was discussed in our recent gr-qc preprint (Ref ). This paper is based on the idea that $`F`$ in the line-element (2) can be interpreted as the inverse of an effective speed of light or equivalently, as a refractive index. In this case the theory of light propagation in a non-dispersive medium (See for instance ) tell us that the light rays are the null geodesics of the metric:

$$\overline{g}_{\alpha \beta }=g_{\alpha \beta }+(1F^2)u_\alpha u_\beta $$
(5)   
where $`g_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the metric corresponding to the line-element (2) and $`u^\alpha `$ is the time-like unit vector with components $`u^0=1`$ and $`u^i=0`$ in the corresponding coordinates. Therefore:

$$\overline{g}_{00}=F^2,\overline{g}_{0i}=0,\overline{g}_{ij}=F^2N^2\delta ij$$
(6)   
This means that a light ray emanating from any point with radial coordinate $`r_e`$ at time $`t_e`$ reaches the point with radial coordinate $`r=0`$ at time $`t`$ given by:

$$_0^{r_e}N(r)𝑑r=_{t_e}^tF^2(t)𝑑t$$
(7)   
With the usual convention about light propagation the integrand in the r-h-s is $`F^1`$ instead of $`F^2`$.

The interesting fact that comes out from this interpretation is that the same elementary calculation that leads to the relationship (1) with the identification (3), when one assumes that light propagates along geodesics of (2) now leads to the following identification:

$$H_0^{}=2H_0,q_0^{}=\frac{1}{2}(q_01)$$
(8)   
in which case the dynamics of the universe becomes radically different from what it is believed to be now. Let us assume as a simple numerical example that:

$$q_0^{}=0.1,H_0^{}=60\text{km/s/Mpc}$$
(9)   
are the observed values of the parameters in (1). According to the usual identification (3) this corresponds to a moderately aged universe ($`H_0^1=17\times 10^9`$yr) with accelerating expansion, while with the new identification (8) the values of $`q_0`$ and $`H_0`$ are:

$$q_0=+0.8H_0=30\text{km/s/Mpc}$$
(10)   
which correspond to a very old universe ($`H_0^1=33\times 10^9`$yr) with a decelerating expansion.

All this should remind us that modern cosmology is still a very young branch of physics and astronomy where very much remains to be discovered and clarified.