Related papers: On the origin of the Cold Spot
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies that result from quantum fluctuations during inflation are explored and the impact of their ``cosmic variance'' on the ability to use existing data to probe inflationary models is studied. We…
We investigate the imprint of nonlinear matter condensations on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in $\Omega_{0}<1$ cold dark matter (CDM) model universes. We consider simulation domains ranging from $120h^{-1}$ Mpc to $360h^{-1}$ Mpc…
Anomalies in the large-scale CMB temperature sky measured by WMAP have been suggested as possible evidence for a violation of statistical isotropy on large scales. In any physical model for broken isotropy, there are testable consequences…
This is a course on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in the standard cosmological model, designed for beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates. ``Standard cosmological model'' in this context means a Universe…
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…
We investigate whether non-adiabatic perturbations from inflation could produce an asymmetric distribution of temperature anisotropies on large angular scales in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We use a generalised non-linear $\delta…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which permeates the entire Universe, is the radiation left over from just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. On very large scales, the CMB radiation field is smooth and isotropic, but the existence of…
Recently Finelli et al. [http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.1555] found evidence for a relatively nearby (z = 0.16) void in a galaxy catalogue in the direction of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) Cold Spot. Using a perturbative calculation,…
Sky temperature map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is one of the premier probes of cosmology. To minimize instrumentally induced systematic errors, CMB anisotropy experiments measure temperature differences across the sky using…
We consider theories where dark matter is composed of a thermal relic of weak scale mass, whose couplings to the Standard Model (SM) are however too small to give rise to the observed abundance. Instead, the abundance is set by annihilation…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a relict of the early universe. Its perfect 2.725K blackbody spectrum demonstrates that the universe underwent a hot, ionized early phase; its anisotropy (about 80 \mu K rms) provides strong evidence…
Unparticle cosmology gives an unconventional outlook on the dark sector of cosmology, increasingly challenging $\Lambda\mbox{CDM}$ by $H_0$-tension. This model derives from a finite temperature broken conformal symmetry of radiation,…
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) reaches homogeneity at relatively modest angular scales compared to the expectation of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model revealing an important challenge to the theoretical predictions. We analyze this…
The ellipticity of the anisotropy spots of the Cosmic Microwave Background measured by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has been studied. We find an average ellipticity of about 2, confirming with a far larger statistics…
Collisions between cosmic bubbles of different vacua are a generic feature of false vacuum eternal inflation scenarios. While previous studies have focused on the consequences of a single collision event in an observer's past, we begin here…
Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information which has been pivotal in establishing the current cosmological model. These data can also be used to test well-motivated additions to this model, such as cosmic…
The circular polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is usually taken to be zero since it is not generated by Thomson scattering. Here we explore the actual level of circular polarization in the CMB generated by conventional…
It has been hypothesized that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides a temperature floor for collapsing protostars that can regulate the process of star formation and result in a top-heavy initial mass function at high metallicity…
Recent observations have identified a significant 4.9$\sigma$ tension between the cosmic dipole inferred from galaxy number counts and that derived from the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), suggesting a potential deviation from the…
Primordial tangled cosmological Magnetic Fields source rotational velocity perturbations of the baryon fluid, even in the post-recombination universe. These vortical modes inturn leave a characteristic imprint on the temperature anisotropy…