Related papers: Measuring the Topology of the Universe
If the universe is finite and smaller than the distance to the surface of last scatter, then the signature of the topology of the universe is writ large on the microwave background sky. We show that the microwave background will be…
If the universe is finite and smaller than the distance to the surface of last scatter, then the signature of the topology of the universe is writ on the microwave background sky. Previous efforts to search for this topology have focused on…
Clues as to the geometry of the universe are encoded in the cosmic background radiation. Hot and cold spots in the primordial radiation may be randomly distributed in an infinite universe while in a universe with compact topology…
If the universe is multiply-connected and sufficiently small, then the last scattering surface wraps around the universe and intersects itself. Each circle of intersection appears as two distinct circles on the microwave sky. The present…
Whether we live in a spatially finite universe, and what its shape and size may be, are among the fundamental long-standing questions in cosmology. These questions of topological nature have become particularly topical, given the wealth of…
The Hilbert-Einstein equations are insufficient to describe the geometry of the Universe, as they only constrain a local geometrical property: curvature. A global knowledge of the geometry of space, if possible, would require measurement of…
The universe displays a three-dimensional pattern of hot and cold spots in the radiation remnant from the big bang. The global geometry of the universe can be revealed in the spatial distribution of these spots. In a topologically compact…
The Cosmic Microwave Background provides our most ancient image of the Universe and our best tool for studying its early evolution. Theories of high energy physics predict the formation of various types of topological defects in the very…
We provide an informal discussion of pattern formation in a finite universe. The global size and shape of the universe is revealed in the pattern of hot and cold spots in the cosmic microwave background. Topological pattern formation can be…
Given the wealth of increasingly accurate cosmological observations, especially the recent results from the WMAP, and the development of methods and strategies in the search for cosmic topology, it is reasonable to expect that we should be…
The Einstein field equations of general relativity constrain the local curvature at every point in spacetime, but say nothing about the global topology of the Universe. Cosmic microwave background anisotropies have proven to be the most…
The Universe could be spatially flat, positively curved or negatively curved. Each option has been popular at various times, partly affected by an understanding that models tend to evolve away from flatness. The curvature of the Universe is…
Questions such as whether we live in a spatially finite universe, and what its shape and size may be, are among the fundamental open problems that high precision modern cosmology needs to resolve. These questions go beyond the scope of…
The first year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe are used to place stringent constraints on the topology of the Universe. We search for pairs of circles on the sky with similar temperature patterns along each circle. We…
If the universe has a nontrivial shape (topology) the sky may show multiple correlated images of cosmic objects. These correlations can be couched in terms of distance correlations. We propose a statistical quantity which can be used to…
The cosmic microwave background radiation allows us to measure both the geometry and topology of the universe. It has been argued that the COBE-DMR data already rule out models that are multiply connected on scales smaller than the particle…
The standard method for observationally confirming the existence of a predicted finite topology of the universe involves searching for the repetition of the same finite or extended source in different directions. However, serious problems…
The shortest distance around the Universe through us is unlikely to be much larger than the horizon diameter if microwave background anomalies are due to cosmic topology. We show that observational constraints from the lack of matched…
If the assumption that physical space has a trivial topology is dropped, then the Universe may be described by a multiply connected Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre model on a sub-horizon scale. Specific candidates for the multiply connected space…
In this paper we pursue a new technique to search for evidence of a finite Universe, making use of a spherical mexican-hat wavelet decomposition of the microwave background fluctuations. Using the information provided by the wavelet…