Some Corrections to Measurements of the Ages of Distant Galaxies Using the James Webb Telescope, Due to the Spatial Curvature of the Universe

In this work we have determined the sign of the spatial curvature of the universe during the period dominated by dark energy, that is, from 6 billion years ago to the present, finding that its curvature is positive (k=+1). Thus, during this period, which is the current one, the universe is a closed universe and boundaryless universe, that is, a hollow 3-sphere. Working with an FLRW metric with these curvature characteristics (k=+1), we have shown that a significant error is being made in determining the age of distant galaxies if the spatial curvature of the universe is not considered. A positive spatial curvature, even a very small one like ours, causes the apparent measured distance to not coincide with the Euclidean distance, and therefore, when determining the age by dividing the distance by the speed of light, the times are different. We have found an equation to correct this error and have applied these corrections to the age values of some galaxies, recently determined using data from the James Webb Telescope, which has resulted in significant differences in the age values of some of them, specifically the oldest ones the true ages being significantly lower than the apparent ages given by the telescope.. These corrections for spatial curvature could be key to understanding the existence of very early galaxies in our universe, thus validating the 𝚲CDM model.

Keywords: Cosmology, Age of the Galaxy, Observable Universe, Spatial Curvature.