Related papers: A Test of the Copernican Principle
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) monopole temperature evolves with the inverse of the cosmological scale factor, independent of many cosmological assumptions. With sufficient sensitivity, real-time cosmological observations could thus…
Several cosmological measurements have attained significant levels of maturity and accuracy over the last decade. Continuing this trend, future observations promise measurements of the statistics of the cosmic mass distribution at an…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a relic radiation of the Big Bang and as such it contains a wealth of cosmological information. Statistical analyses of the CMB, in conjunction with other cosmological observables, represent some of…
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on dark matter annihilation are a uniquely powerful tool in the quest to understand the nature of dark matter. Annihilation of dark matter to Standard Model particles between recombination and…
The conventional $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model supplemented by the inflation concept describes the Universe very well. However, there are still a few concerns: new Planck data impose constraints on the shape of the inflaton potential,…
Variations in $\Omega$, the total density of the Universe, leave a clear and distinctive imprint on the power spectrum of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This signature is virtually independent of other…
In the standard cosmological model, the dimming of distant Type Ia supernovae is explained by invoking the existence of repulsive `dark energy' which is causing the Hubble expansion to accelerate. However this may be an artifact of…
We present a method to measure the small-scale matter power spectrum using high-resolution measurements of the gravitational lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). To determine whether small-scale structure today is suppressed on…
Full suite of the present day Cosmic Microwave background (CMB) data, when combined with weak prior information on the Hubble constant and the age of the Universe, or the Large-Scale structure, provides strong indication for a non-zero…
The recent measurements of the power spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies are consistent with the simplest inflationary scenario and big bang nucleosynthesis constraints. However, these results rely on the assumption of a…
We investigate the potential of using cosmic voids as a probe to constrain cosmological parameters through the gravitational lensing effect of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and make predictions for the next generation surveys. By…
The measurements of COBE/FIRAS have shown that the CMB spectrum is extremely close to a perfect blackbody. There are, however, a number of processes in the early Universe that should create spectral distortions at a level which is within…
Assuming the universe is spatially homogeneous on the largest scales lays the foundation for almost all cosmology. This idea is based on the Copernican principle, that we are not at a particularly special place in the universe.…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum is an extraordinary tool for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model. The exquisite precision of the measurement makes it particularly sensitive to small effects caused by hidden sector…
Observations of distances to Type-Ia supernovae can be explained by cosmological models that include either a gigaparsec-scale void, or a cosmic flow, without the need for Dark Energy. Instead of invoking dark energy, these inhomogeneous…
We review the theory of the temperature anisotropy and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and describe what we have learned from current CMB observations. In particular, we discuss how the CMB is being used to…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations effectively measure the basic properties of the universe during the recombination epoch. CMB measurements fix the distance to the surface of last scatter, the sound horizon of the…
One of the most powerful probes of new physics is the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The detection of a nonzero polarization angle rotation between the CMB surface of last scattering and today could provide evidence of…
The question of whether the Universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic on the largest scales is of fundamental importance to cosmology, but has not yet been answered decisively. Surprisingly, neither an isotropic primary CMB nor…
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy (spatial inhomogeneity) data provide the tightest constraints on the Hubble constant, matter density, spatial curvature, and dark energy dynamics. Other data, sensitive to the evolution of only…