Related papers: How the Universe got its Spots
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization observations indicate that in the best-fit $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter model of the Universe, the local geometry is consistent with at most a small amount of positive or negative…
In a Universe with a detectable nontrivial spatial topology the last scattering surface contains pairs of matching circles with the same distribution of temperature fluctuations --- the so-called circles-in-the-sky. Searches undertaken for…
Large patterns could exist on the microwave sky as a result of various non-standard possibilities for the large-scale Universe -- rotation or shear, non-trivial topology, and single topological defects are specific examples. All-sky (or…
The standard model of cosmology is based on the hot Big Bang theory and the inflationary paradigm. Recent precise observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and the matter distribution…
In the last years there has been a growing interest in the understanding a vast variety of scale invariant and critical phenomena occurring in nature. Experiments and observations indeed suggest that many physical systems develop…
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…
In a large scale view of the universe, galaxies are the basic unit of structure. A typical bright galaxy may contain 100 billion stars and span tens of thousands of light years, but the empty expanses between the galaxies are much larger…
The geodesics followed by cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons show different behaviours depending on the geometry of space. Namely, the effect of `mixing geodesics' predicts a distinct signature in CMB maps: threshold-independent…
Discovered as an apparent pattern, a universal relation between geometry and information called the holographic principle has yet to be explained. This relation is unfolded in the present paper. As it is demonstrated there, the origin of…
Recent high precision data by WMAP and SDSS have provided strong evidence to suggest that the universe is nearly flat. They are also making it possible to probe the topology of the universe. Motivated by these results, we have recently…
Cosmology's standard model posits an infinite flat universe forever expanding under the pressure of dark energy. First-year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) confirm this model to spectacular precision on all but the…
We propose a method for constructing the specific heat for the universe by following standard definitions of classical thermodynamics, in a spatially flat homogeneous and isotropic spacetime. We use cosmography to represent the specific…
Topological structure has been extensively studied and confirmed in highly correlated condensed matter physics. We explore the gravitational waves emitted from binary neutron star mergers using the pseudoconformal model for dense nuclear…
We assume that the Universe has a non trivial topology whose compact spatial sections have a volume significantly smaller than the horizon volume. By a topological lens effect, such a "folded" space configuration generates multiple images…
Multiply connected space sections of the universe on a scale smaller than the horizon size can leave an imprint on cosmic microwave background polarization maps, in such a way that the so-called ``circles-in-the-sky'' method can be used to…
This is a written version of a talk given at the Fifth Friedmann Seminar on recent work in Observational Cosmic Topology done in partial collaboration with Armando Bernui. We address three relevant questions related to the search for the…
Most treatments of large scale anomalies in the microwave sky are a posteriori, with unquantified look-elsewhere effects. We contrast these with physical models of specific inhomogeneities in the early universe which then generate apparent…
We develop a new approach to building cosmological models, in which small pieces of perturbed Minkowski space are joined together at reflection-symmetric boundaries in order to form a global, dynamical space-time. Each piece of this…
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…
If the topology of the universe is compact we show how it significantly changes our assessment of the naturalness of the observed structure of the universe and the likelihood of its present state of high isotropy and near flatness arising…