Related papers: Lecture Notes on CMB Theory: From Nucleosynthesis …
This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on the theory of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Journal articles, web pages, and books are cited for the following topics: discovery, cosmological origin, early work,…
In this article we review the theory of cosmological inflation with a particular focus on the beautiful connection it provides between the physics of the very small and observations of the very large. We explain how quantum mechanical…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides us with our most direct observational window to the early universe. Observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the CMB have played a critical role in defining the…
I consider the case of anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from one single ordered perturbation source, or seed, existing well before decoupling between matter and radiation. Such structures could have been left by high…
The physical ingredients to describe the epoch of cosmological recombination are amazingly simple and well-understood. This fact allows us to take into account a very large variety of processes, still finding potentially measurable…
A compact overview of the status of CMB anisotropy results and their cosmological interpretation up until the end of 2005. Sections headings: Introduction; Description of CMB Anisotropies; Cosmological Parameters; Physics of Anisotropies;…
We present a pedagogical and phenomenological introduction to the study of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization to build intuition about the prospects and challenges facing its detection. Thomson scattering of temperature…
A complete numerical calculation of the temperature anisotropies and the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is presented for a non zero cross correlation of a stochastic magnetic field with the primordial curvature…
Following the pioneering observations with COBE in the early 1990s, studies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have focused on temperature and polarization anisotropies. CMB spectral distortions - tiny departures of the CMB energy…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provides a remarkable window onto the early universe, revealing its composition and structure. In these lectures we review and discuss the physics underlying the main features of the CMB.
Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature are being studied with ever increasing precision. Two competing types of theories might describe the origins of these fluctuations: ``inflation'' and ``defects''. Here we…
We consider anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) generated by spatially limited seeds; these objects could correspond to relics of high energy symmetry breaking in the early universe. It is shown how the CMB perturbation…
I show that neutral lithium couples strongly to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) through its 6708A resonant transition after it recombines at z~500. At observed wavelengths of <335 micron, the CMB anisotropies are significantly altered…
The anisotropy study cosmic microwave background (CMB) is one of the main observational tools for modern cosmology. However, alongside the study of the thermal fluctuations of the CMB are other equally important information, which is known…
This paper given at the Strasbourg NATO school on the CMB and cosmology reports the contents of four hours of lectures on the CMB spectrum, potential distortions, and implications. It was followed by 6 hours of lectures on CMB anisotropy.…
In this review, we give an overview of some of the major aspects of data reduction and analysis for the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Since its prediction and discovery in the last century, the CMB radiation has proven itself to be one…
The study of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization is still in a pioneering stage, but promises to bring a huge advancement in cosmology in the near future, just as high-accuracy observations of the anisotropies in the total…
In the first part of this work, I review the theoretical framework of cosmological perturbation theory necessary to understand the generation and evolution of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. Using analytical and numerical…
These lecture notes cover mainly three connected topics. In the first part we give a detailed treatment of cosmological perturbation theory. The second part is devoted to cosmological inflation and the generation of primordial fluctuations.…
We summarize some applications of big bang nucleosythesis (BBN) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to constrain the first moments of the creation of matter in the universe. We review the basic elements of BBN and how it constraints…