Related papers: On Planck simulations: towards `2-nd order' analys…
Unexpected features have been observed in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature on large scales. We revisit these CMB anomalies using new foreground-cleaned CMB temperature maps derived in a companion paper from WMAP and Planck…
The upcoming satellite missions MAP and Planck will measure the spectrum of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background with unprecedented accuracy. We discuss the prospect of using these observations to distinguish among proposed…
The Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies are difficult to measure at large angular scales. In this paper, we present a new analysis of the \Planck\ High Frequency Instrument data that brings the cosmological part and its major…
The role of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation data in constraining the presence of primordial isocurvature modes is examined. While the MAP satellite mission will be unable to simultaneously constrain isocurvature modes and…
Accurate measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies with an angular resolution of a few arcminutes can be used to determine fundamental cosmological parameters such as the densities of baryons, cold and hot dark…
Secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information that can be used to test both cosmological models and models of galaxy formation. Starting from lightcone-based HEALPix maps and catalogues, we present a…
Measurement of cosmic microwave background polarization is today a major goal of observational cosmology. The level of the signal to measure, however, makes it very sensitive to various systematic effects. In the case of Planck, which…
The largest temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the dipole, which has been measured with increasing accuracy for more than three decades, particularly with the Planck satellite. The simplest interpretation of…
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…
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…
I briefly review some of the main scientific outputs expected from the upcoming Planck mission. Planck will map the CMB sky with 5' resolution and $\mu$K sensitivity, with minimal foreground contribution and superb control on systematics.…
The full sky measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies by $\textit{WMAP}$ and $\textit{Planck}$ have highlighted the presence of several unexpected isotropy-breaking features on the largest angular…
We explore the effects of low-scale cosmological first-order phase transitions on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy and distortion. We examine two scenarios: the distribution of the…
Several missions following Planck are currently under development, which will provide high-precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. Specifically, measurements of the E modes will become nearly limited by…
The characterization of the dust polarization foreground to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a necessary step towards the detection of the B-mode signal associated with primordial gravitational waves. We present a method to simulate…
This is a very exciting time for the CMB field. It is widely recognized that precision measurements of the CMB can provide a definitive test of cosmological models and determine their parameters accurately. At present observations give us…
The presence of a dipolar statistical anisotropy in the spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations was reported by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and has recently been confirmed in the Planck 2013 analysis…
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…
A conventional explanation of the dipole anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is in terms of the Doppler effect: our galaxy is moving with respect to CMB frame with $ \sim 600 ~ km ~ s^{-1} $. However, as the deep…
The ESA Planck satellite, launched on May 14th, 2009, is the third generation space mission dedicated to the measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the first light in the Universe. Planck observes the full sky in nine…