Whither Goest CMB Isotropy?


I am reading a very new preprint (19 Dec 2008) put on the arxiv.org
site. It is designated arxiv:0812.3795v1 and it is written by F. K.
Hansen, A.J. Banday, H.K. Erikson and P. B. Lilje.

The basic issue is whether the observable universe is homogeneous
(appears isotropic) or whether the observable universe shows evidence
for discrete fractal organization from the smallest to the largest
observable scales. Conventional astrophysics has tended to favor the
assumption of strict large-scale homogeneity, and some theorists
insist that the Universe simply must be homogeneous (received
wisdom?). The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has always been cited
as the gold standard proof of large-scale isotropy/homogeneity and
previous measurements were arguably consistent with the assumption of
large-scale homogeneity.

Ah, but deviations from isotropy in the CMB would indicate that
fundamental inhomogeneity, and the possibility of a fractal Universe,
is present. Here are some quotations from the paper to wet your
appetite for the new preprint.


"A model with an asymmetric distribution of power for l = 2-600 is
found to be PREFERRED OVER THE ISOTROPIC MODEL at the 0.4%
significance level..."


"No known systematic effects or foregrounds are found to be able to
explain this asymmetry."


"... we find strong asymmetry in the multipole range l = 2 - 221 ..."


"THE CMB DOES SEEM TO HAVE AN UNEVEN POWER DISTRIBUTION ON THE SKY
OVER A LARGE RANGE OF ANGULAR SCALES. AN IMPORTANT TASK FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH IS TO FIND A PHYSICAL EXPLANATION FOR THIS ASYMMETRY..."


I wonder if fractal paradigms might be included in this search for an
explanation?


Yours in science,
Knecht
www.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw


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Relevant Pages

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