Related papers: Cosmic Mnemonics
We aim to present a tutorial on the detection, parameter estimation and statistical analysis of compact sources (far galaxies, galaxy clusters and Galactic dense emission regions) in cosmic microwave background observations. The topic is of…
Our knowledge about the universe has increased tremendously in the last three decades or so --- thanks to the progress in observations --- but our understanding has improved very little. There are several fundamental questions about our…
Over the last decades, observations with increasing quality have revolutionized our understanding of the general properties of the Universe. Questions posed for millenia by mankind about the origin, evolution and structure of the cosmos…
This is a review article for The Review of Particle Physics 2010 (aka the Particle Data Book). It forms a compact review of knowledge of the cosmological parameters at the beginning of 2010. Topics included are Parametrizing the Universe;…
The LCDM standard model, although an excellent parametrization of the present cosmological data, requires two as yet unobserved components, Dark Matter and Dark Energy, for more than 95% of the Universe, and a high level of fine-tuning.…
This is a review article for The Review of Particle Physics 2014 (aka the Particle Data Book). It forms a compact review of knowledge of the cosmological parameters at the beginning of 2014. Topics included are Parametrizing the Universe;…
The Planck experiment will soon provide a very accurate measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies. This will let cosmologists determine most of the cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. Future experiments will…
Basic cosmology describes the universe as a Robertson-Walker model filled with black-body radiation and no barionic matter, and as observational data it uses only the value of the speed of light, the Hubble and deceleration parameters and…
The physical processes that determine the properties of our everyday world, and of the wider cosmos, are determined by some key numbers: the 'constants' of micro-physics and the parameters that describe the expanding universe in which we…
The claim by Gurzadyan et al. that the cosmological sky is a weakly random one where "the random perturbation is a minor component of mostly regular signal" has given rise to a series of useful exchanges. The possibility that the Cosmic…
The standard model of cosmology, {\Lambda}CDM, is the simplest model that matches the current observations, but it relies on two hypothetical components, to wit, dark matter and dark energy. Future galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave…
I present a pedagogical review of inflation and the cosmic microwave background. I describe how a short period of accelerated expansion can replace the special initial conditions of the standard big bang model. I also describe the…
It is now widely acknowledged that cosmic rays experiments can test possible new physics directly generated at the Planck scale or at some other fundamental scale. By studying particle properties at energies far beyond the reach of any…
A cosmological model with total density close to critical (and flat geometry), dominated by dark matter and dark energy of unknown nature, and consistent with the basic predictions of the inflationary scenario is a very good fit to a…
We study how uncertainty in the reionization history of the universe affects estimates of other cosmological parameters from the Cosmic Microwave Background. We analyze WMAP7 data and synthetic Planck-quality data generated using a…
For a few years now, cosmology has a standard model. By this term, we mean a consistent theoretical background which is at the same time simple and broad enough to offer coherent explanations for the vast majority of cosmological phenomena.…
The dynamics of our universe is characterised by the density parameters for cosmological constant ($\Omega_V$), nonbaryonic darkmatter($\Omega_{\rm wimp}$), radiation ($\Omega_R$) and baryons ($\Omega_B$). To these parameters -- which…
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…
Recent data from the WMAP, ACT and SPT experiments provide precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature power spectrum over a wide range of angular scales. The combination of these observations is well fit by the…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…