Re: Anybody See Any Holes in this Argument?

The distance to SN1987A is solid. Panagia has updated his calculations
from the version cited by the web page. It can be found here:

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0309416

A Geometric Determination of the Distance to SN 1987A and the LMC
Authors: Nino Panagia (ESA/STScI)
Comments: 8 pages, 3 figures (requires the file svmult.cls to be
compiled). To appear in the Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 192
``Supernovae (10 years of SN1993J)'', Valencia, Spain, eds. J.M.
Marcaide and K.W. Weiler (Springer Verlag)

Using the definitive reductions of the IUE light curves by Sonneborn et
al. (1997) and an extensive set of HST images of SN 1987A we have
repeated and improved our original analysis (Panagia et al. 1991) to
derive a better determination of the distance to the supernova. In this
way we have obtained an absolute size of the ring R(abs) = (6.23 +/-
0.08)e17 cm and an angular size R'' = 808 +/- 17 mas, which give a
distance to the supernova d(SN1987A) = 51.4 +/- 1.2 kpc and a distance
modulus (m-M)_SN1987A}} = 18.55 +/- 0.05. Allowing for a displacement of
SN 1987A position relative to the LMC center, the distance to the
barycenter of the Large Magellanic Cloud is also estimated to be
d(LMC)=51.7 +/- 1.3 kpc, which corresponds to a distance modulus of
(m-M)_LMC = 18.56 +/- 0.05.

---
The distance modulus is only .02 less than the version cited by the web
page.  Furthermore, the geometric distance measure also confirms other
distance techniques such as RR Lyrae stars and Cepheid variables. Note:
there has been some minor disagreement between these techniques but that
is between a distance modulus of 18.2 versus 18.5. Accepting even the
lower 18.2 still blows young earth creationism out of the water. 
There are better arguments for the non-variability of the speed of light
or in the case of YEC non-massively variable speed of light. VSL
theories that are seriously being discussed are only slight differences
consisting of parts per ten-thousandths over billions of years.  A
better argument for the non-variability for the speed of light can be
found in the fine structure constant. For example this paper
(http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0402177) shows the fine structure
constant to be truly a constant (the speed of light is part of the fine
structure constant, alpha).
Limits on the time variation of the electromagnetic fine-structure
constant in the low energy limit from absorption lines in the spectra of
distant quasars
Authors: Raghunathan Srianand (IUCAA, PUNE), Hum Chand (IUCAA, Pune),
Patrick Petitjean (IAP, PARIS), Bastien Aracil (IAP, paris)
Comments: uses revtex, 4 pages 3 figures. Accepted for publication in
Physical Review Letters
Journal-ref: Phys.Rev.Lett. 92 (2004) 121302
Most of the successful physical theories rely on the constancy of few
fundamental quantities (such as the speed of light, $c$, the
fine-structure constant, \alpha, the proton to electron mass ratio, \mu,
etc), and constraining the possible time variations of these fundamental
quantities is an important step toward a complete physical theory. Time
variation of \alpha can be accurately probed using absorption lines seen
in the spectra of distant quasars. Here, we present the results of a
detailed many-multiplet analysis performed on a new sample of Mg II
systems observed in high quality quasar spectra obtained using the Very
Large Telescope. The weighted mean value of the variation in \alpha
derived from our analysis over the redshift range 0.4<z<2.3 is
\Delta\alpha/\alpha = (-0.06+/-0.06) x 10^{-5}. The median redshift of
our sample (z=1.55) corresponds to a look-back time of 9.7 Gyr in the
most favored cosmological model today. This gives a 3\sigma limit, -2.5
x 10^{-16} yr^-1 <(\Delta\alpha/\alpha\Delta t) <+1.2x10^{-16} yr^-1,
for the time variation of \alpha, that forms the strongest constraint
obtained based on high redshift quasar absorption line systems. 
-----------
Tests of Lorentz invariance also limit the variability of the speed of
light. One such paper is found here:
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0308214. 
Constraints on Lorentz Invariance Violating Quantum Gravity and Large
Extra Dimensions Models using High Energy Gamma Ray Observations
Authors: F.W. Stecker (NASA/GSFC)
Comments: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics, nine pages,
ref. to loop quantum gravity removed
Journal-ref: Astropart.Phys. 20 (2003) 85-90
Observations of the multi-TeV spectra of the nearby BL objects Mkn 421
and Mkn 501 exhibit the high energy cutoffs predicted to be the result
of intergalactic annihilation interactions, primarily with infrared
photons having a flux level as determined by various astronomical
observations. After correction for this absorption effect, the derived
intrinsic spectra of these multi-TeV sources can be explained within the
framework of simple synchrotron self-Compton emission models. Stecker
and Glashow have shown that the existence of such annihilations via
electron-positron pair production interactions up to an energy of 20 TeV
puts strong constraints on Lorentz invariance violation. Such
constraints have important implications for Lorentz invariance violating
(LIV) quantum gravity models as well as LIV models involving large extra
dimensions. We also discuss the implications of observations of high
energy gamma-rays from the Crab Nebula on constraining quantum gravity
models. 
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Finally, there is an earth-bound constraint on the speed of light and it
was found in the Oklo uranium mine in Gabon. It seems that the naturally
occurring fision reaction also places constraints on the time
variability of alpha. The paper can be found here:
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0311026
Oklo Constraint on the Time-Variability of the Fine-Structure Constant
Authors: Yasunori Fujii
Comments: 19 pages, 2 jpg and 10 eps figures, delivered at Astrophysics,
Clocks and Fundamental Constants, 16-18 June 2003, Bad Honnef, Germany,
to be published in Lecture Notes in Physics, Springer. v2 revises jpg
files, adds 2 footnotes and 2 references
The Oklo phenomenon, natural fission reactors which had taken place in
Gabon about 2 billion years ago, provides one of the most stringent
constraints on the possible time-variability of the fine-structure
constant $\alpha$. We first review briefly what it is and how reliable
it is in constraining $\alpha$. We then compare the result with a more
recent result on the nonzero change of $\alpha$ obtained from the
observation of the QSO absorption lines. We suggest a possible way to
make these results consistent with each other in terms of the behavior
of a scalar field which is expected to be responsible for the
acceleration of the universe.