Related papers: Re-evaluating evidence for Hawking points in the C…
Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have cemented the notion that the large-scale Universe is both statistically homogeneous and isotropic. But is it invariant also under reflections? To probe this we require…
We use Bayesian model comparison to determine whether extensions to Standard-Model neutrino physics -- primarily additional effective numbers of neutrinos and/or massive neutrinos -- are merited by the latest cosmological data. Given the…
This paper presents a frequentist analysis of the hot and cold spots of the cosmic microwave background data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We compare the WMAP temperature statistics of extrema (number of…
A persistent signal of power asymmetry on opposite hemispheres of CMB sky was seen in full-sky temperature measurements made so far. This asymmetry was seen in microwave sky from WMAP as well as PLANCK satellites, and calls for attention…
We present the first results based on Planck measurements of the CMB temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. The Planck spectra at high multipoles are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter LCDM…
Various so-called anomalies have been found in both the WMAP and Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature data that exert a mild tension against the highly successful best-fit 6 parameter cosmological model, potentially…
I describe briefly the Cosmic Microwave Background (hereafter CMB) physics which explains why high accuracy observations of its spatial structure are a unique observational tool both for the determination of the global cosmological…
Some analyses of recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) data have provided hints that there are deviations from Gaussianity in the WMAP CMB temperature fluctuations. Given the far reaching consequences of such a non-Gaussianity for our…
The large-angular-scale falloff in the autocorrelation function for the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature has long intrigued cosmologists and fueled speculation about suppressed superhorizon power. Here we highlight an…
Planck's Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization observations are the premier dataset for constraining cosmological models. Cosmic variance limited temperature at large and intermediate scales today dominates the…
The presence of matter in the path of relic photons causes distortions in the angular pattern of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations, modifying their properties in a slight but measurable way. Recently, the Planck…
In this paper, we investigate the utility of Minkowski Functionals as a probe of cold/hot disk-like structures in the CMB. In order to construct an accurate estimator, we resolve a long-standing issue with the use of Minkowski Functionals…
Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation provide a unique opportunity for a direct study of the primordial cosmic plasma at redshift z ~1000. The angular power spectra of temperature and polarisation fluctuations are…
Baryons constitute about 4% of our universe, but most of them are missing and we do not know where and in what form they are hidden. This constitute the so-called missing baryon problem. A possibility is that part of these baryons are…
Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a long-standing prediction of the standard cosmolgical model, is ultimately expected to be an important source of cosmological information, but first detection has not been…
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature bispectrum is currently the most precise tool for constraining primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). The Planck temperature data tightly constrain the amplitude of local-type NG: $f_{\rm NL}^{\rm…
The coming flood of CMB polarization experiments, spurred by the recent detection of CMB polarization by DASI and WMAP, will be confronted by many new analysis tasks specific to polarization. For the analysis of CMB polarization data sets,…
We impose constraints on the topology of the Universe determined from a search for matched circles in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy patterns of the 7-year WMAP data. We pay special attention to the sensitivity…
The lack of power anomaly is an unexpected feature observed at large angular scales in the CMB maps produced by the COBE, WMAP and Planck satellites. This signature, which consists in a missing of power with respect to that predicted by the…
The statistical analysis of the soon to come Planck satellite CMB data will help set tighter bounds on major cosmological parameters. On the way, a number of practical difficulties need to be tackled, notably that several other…