Constraints on cosmological parameters from recent measurements of cosmic microwave background anisotropy |
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Authors: | Hancock Rocha Lasenby & Gutiérrez |
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Institution: | Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE,;Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA,;Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain |
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Abstract: | A key prediction of cosmological theories for the origin and evolution of structure in the Universe is the existence of a 'Doppler peak' in the angular power spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations. We present new results from a study of recent CMB observations which provide the first strong evidence for the existence of a 'Doppler peak' localized in both angular scale and amplitude. This first estimate of the angular position of the peak is used to place a new direct limit on the curvature of the Universe, corresponding to a density of Ω = 0.7+0.8?0.5, consistent with a flat universe. Very low-density 'open' universe models are inconsistent with this limit unless there is a significant contribution from a cosmological constant. For a flat standard cold dark matter dominated universe we use our results in conjunction with big bang nucleosynthesis constraints to determine the value of the Hubble constant as H 0 = 30 ? 70 km s?1 Mpc?1 for baryon fractions Ωb = 0.05 to 0.2. For H 0 = 50 km s?1 Mpc?1 we find the primordial spectral index of the fluctuations to be n = 1.1 ± 0.1, in close agreement with the inflationary prediction of n ? 1.0. |
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Keywords: | cosmic microwave background cosmology: theory |
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