SIMBAD references

We continue to build support for the proposal to use H II galaxies (HIIGx) and giant extragalactic H II regions (GEHR) as standard candles to construct the Hubble diagram at redshifts beyond the current reach of Type Ia supernovae. Using a sample of 25 high-redshift HIIGx, 107 local HIIGx, and 24 GEHR, we confirm that the correlation between the emission-line luminosity and ionized-gas velocity dispersion is a viable luminosity indicator, and use it to test and compare the standard model ΛCDM and the R_h = ct universe by optimizing the parameters in each cosmology using a maximization of the likelihood function. For the flat ΛCDM model, the best fit is obtained with Ω _m= 0.40_–0.09^+0.09. However, statistical tools, such as the Akaike (AIC), Kullback (KIC) and Bayes (BIC) Information Criteria favour R_h = ct over the standard model with a likelihood of ~= 94.8-98.8 per cent versus only ~= 1.2-5.2 per cent. For wCDM (the version of ΛCDM with a dark-energy equation of state w_de ≡ p_de/ρ_de rather than w_de = w_Λ = -1), a statistically acceptable fit is realized with Ω_m=0.22-0.14_^+0.16 and w_de= -0.51_–0.25^+0.15 which, however, are not fully consistent with their concordance values. In this case, wCDM has two more free parameters than R_h = ct, and is penalized more heavily by these criteria. We find that R_h = ct is strongly favoured over wCDM with a likelihood of ~= 92.9-99.6 per cent versus only 0.4-7.1 per cent. The current HIIGx sample is already large enough for the BIC to rule out ΛCDM/wCDM in favour of R_h = ct at a confidence level approaching 3σ.