Related papers: Is the Universe odd?

Several unexpected features have been observed in the microwave sky at large angular scales, both by WMAP an by Planck. Among those features is a lack of both variance and correlation on the largest angular scales, alignment of the lowest…

We discuss how an extended foreground of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) can account for the anomalies in the low multipoles of the CMB anisotropies. The distortion needed to account for the anomalies is consistent with a cold spot…

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 standard cosmological model, which assumes statistical isotropy and parity invariance, predicts the absence of correlations between even-parity and odd-parity observables of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Contrary to these…

The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) is an invaluable probe of the conditions of the early universe. Recent measurements of its spatial anisotropy have allowed accurate determinations of several fundamental cosmological…

We search for a direction in the sky that exhibits parity symmetry under reflections through a plane. We use the natural estimator, which compares the power in even and odd $\ell+m$ multipoles, and apply minimal blind masking of outliers to…

We propose a novel representation of cosmic microwave anisotropy maps, where each multipole order l is represented by l unit vectors pointing in directions on the sky and an overall magnitude. These "multipole vectors and scalars" transform…

The existence of stars and galaxies reqires cosmological models with an inhomogeneous matter and radiation distribution. But in these models the initial singularity surface t_0(r) is in general homogeneous (independent of r). In this second…

Bipolar spherical harmonics (BiPoSHs) provide a general formalism for quantifying departures in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from statistical isotropy (SI) and from Gaussianity. However, prior work has focused only on BiPoSHs with…

We show that the difference between the theoretically expected and measured by WMAP amplitude of the quadrupole fluctuations of CMB can be related to the impact of the anisotropic curvature of the homogeneous universe dominated by the dark…

In this talk, I review some recent work on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in an open universe. I emphasize that the observed CMB anisotropies are still consistent with a low value of $\Omega$, and I address the question of…

This research demonstrates that parity violation in general relativity can simultaneously explain the observed loss in power and alignment at a preferred axis ('Axis of Evil')in the low multipole moments of the WMAP data. This observational…

We provide a new analysis technique to measure the effect of the isotropic polarization rotation, induced by e.g. the isotropic cosmic birefringence from axion-like particles and a miscalibration of CMB polarization angle, via mode coupling…

Several anomalies appear to be present in the large-angle cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy maps of WMAP. One of these is a lack of large-scale power. Because the data otherwise match standard models extremely well, it is natural…

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…

We study the possibility for constraining the topology of the Universe by means of the matched circles statistic applied to polarised cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy maps. The advantages of using the CMB polarisation maps in…

The CMB anisotropies in spherical 3-spaces with a non-trivial topology are analysed with a focus on lens and prism shaped fundamental cells. The conjecture is tested that well proportioned spaces lead to a suppression of large-scale…

We have investigated the odd-parity preference of the WMAP 7 year power spectrum. Comparison with simulation shows the odd-parity preference of WMAP data (2<= l <=22) is anomalous at 4-in-1000 level. We have investigated its origins, and…

Anomalies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps have been widely acquainted nowadays from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite to the Planck satellite. One of the anomalies is a multipole alignment from $l=2$ to…

Here we explore from a theoretical perspective the sensitivity of the primary CMB anisotropy trispectrum to parity violation (PV) in large-scale structure (LSS). We focus on the Sachs-Wolfe term, which dominates at $\ell < 40$, after which…