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Title: Measuring the homogeneity of the universe using polarization drift

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Univ. of Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain); ICREA, Barcelona (Spain); Dartmouth College
  2. Univ. of the Western Cape, Cape Town (South Africa); Univ. of Portsmouth (United Kingdom)
  3. Univ. of Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain)
  4. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
  5. Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom). Imperial Centre for Inference and Cosmology
  6. Univ. of Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain); ICREA, Barcelona (Spain)
+ Show Author Affiliations

We propose a method to probe the homogeneity of a general universe, without assuming symmetry. We show that isotropy can be tested at remote locations on the past lightcone by comparing the line-of-sight and transverse expansion rates, using the time dependence of the polarization of Cosmic Microwave Background photons that have been inverse-Compton scattered by the hot gas in massive clusters of galaxies. This probes a combination of remote transverse and parallel components of the expansion rate of the metric, and we may use radial baryon acoustic oscillations or cosmic clocks to measure the parallel expansion rate. Thus we can test remote isotropy, which is a key requirement of a homogeneous universe. We provide explicit formulas that connect observables and properties of the metric.

Research Organization:
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010386
OSTI ID:
1593382
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 05 Vol. 2019; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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