Can the lack of symmetry in the {ital COBE} DMR maps constrain the topology of the universe?

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/177706· OSTI ID:388937

Oliveira-Costa, A d ^[1]; Smoot, G F ^[1]; Starobinsky, A A ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Space Sciences Laboratory, and Center for Particle Astrophysics, Building 50-205, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
2. Russian Academy of Sciences and Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kosygina Street 2, Moscow 117334 (Russia)

Although the cubic {ital T}{sup 3} {open_quote}{open_quote}small universe{close_quote}{close_quote} has been ruled out by COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) results as an interesting cosmological model, we still have the possibility of living in a universe with a more anisotropic topology, such as a rectangular {ital T}{sup 3} {open_quote}{open_quote}small universe{close_quote}{close_quote} with one or two of its dimensions significantly smaller than the present horizon (which we refer to as {ital T}{sup 1} and {ital T}{sup 2} models, respectively). In order to rule out these anisotropic topologies as well, we apply a new data analysis method that searches for the specific kind of symmetries that these models should produce. We find that the 4 year COBE DMR data place a lower limit on the smallest cell size for {ital T}{sup 1} and {ital T}{sup 2} models of 3000 {ital h}{sup {minus}1} Mpc, at 95{percent} confidence, for a scale-invariant power spectrum ({ital n}=1). These results imply that {ital all} toroidal universes (cubes and rectangles) are ruled out as interesting cosmological models. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Astronomical Society.}

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 388937
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 468; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ANISOTROPY
BACKGROUND RADIATION
COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE
LIMITING VALUES
POWER SPECTRA
TOPOLOGY
UNIVERSE