Related papers: Inconsistency between WMAP data and released map
We study the apparent lack of power on large angular scales in the WMAP data. We confirm that although there is no apparent lack of power at large angular scales for the full-sky maps, the lowest multipoles of the WMAP data happen to have…
The quadrupole power of cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies seen in the WMAP data is puzzlingly low. In this paper we demonstrate that Minimum Variance Optimization (MVO), a technique used by many authors (including…
We investigate the abundance of large-scale hot and cold spots in the WMAP-5 temperature maps and find considerable discrepancies compared to Gaussian simulations based on the LCDM best-fit model. Too few spots are present in the reliably…
Previous claims of significant evidence for mirror-parity in the large-scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment have been recently echoed in the first study of isotropy and…
We investigate a possible asymmetry in the statistical properties of the cosmic microwave background temperature field and to do so we construct an estimator aiming at detecting a dipolar modulation. Such a modulation is found to induce…
We investigate anomalies reported in the Cosmic Microwave Background maps from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite on very large angular scales and discuss possible interpretations. Three independent anomalies involve…
On large angular scales (greater than about 60 degrees), the two-point angular correlation function of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), as measured (outside of the plane of the Galaxy) by the Wilkinson Microwave…
We examine statistical isotropy of large scale anisotropies of the Internal Linear Combination (ILC) map, based on three year WMAP data. Our study reveals no significant deviation from statistical isotropy on large angular scales of 3-year…
I discuss whether the standard cosmological models fit the WMAP data well enough to justify parameter estimation with standard assumptions. The observed quadrupole is low (but has significant foreground uncertainty) and drives weak evidence…
The recent release of the first light sky map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the Planck satellite provides an initial opportunity for comparison with the WMAP and COBE sky maps and their reconstruction algorithms. The…
Recent analyses of the WMAP data seem to indicate the possible presence of large-angle anisotropy in the Universe. If confirmed, these can have important consequences for our understanding of the Universe. A number of attempts have recently…
Rapid progress has been made in observations of the temperature anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). These observations have enabled cosmologists to characterize the state of the universe at recombination, and…
The statistical expectation values of the temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are assumed to be preserved under rotations of the sky. We investigate the Statistical Isotropy (SI) of the CMB anisotropy maps…
We studied the WMAP temperature anisotropy data using two different methods. The derived signal gradient maps show regions with low mean gradients in structures near the ecliptic poles and higher gradient values in the wide ecliptic…
We test the tenet of statistical isotropy of the standard cosmological model via a homology analysis of the cosmic microwave background temperature maps. Examining small sectors of the normalized maps, we find that the results exhibit a…
[Abridged] We present updated estimates of Galactic foreground emission using seven years of WMAP data. Using the power spectrum of differences between multi-frequency template-cleaned maps, we find no evidence for foreground contamination…
The temperature anisotropy power spectrum measured with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) at high multipoles is in spectacular agreement with an inflationary Lambda-dominated cold dark matter cosmology. However, the low order…
Observations of cosmic microwave background polarisation, essential for probing a potential phase of inflation in the early universe, suffer from contamination by polarised emission from the Galactic interstellar medium. This work combines…
Suggestions have been made that the microwave background observed by COBE and WMAP and dubbed Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) may have an origin within our own Galaxy or Earth. To consider the signal that may be correlated with Earth, a…
We present an extensive frequentist analysis of the one-point statistics (number, mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis) and two-point correlation functions determined for the local extrema of the cosmic microwave background temperature…