No Arabic abstract
We set new constraints on a seven-dimensional space of cosmological parameters within the class of inflationary adiabatic models. We use the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background measured over a wide range of ell in the first flight of the MAXIMA balloon-borne experiment (MAXIMA-1) and the low ell results from COBE/DMR. We find constraints on the total energy density of the universe, Omega=1.0^{+0.15}_{-0.30}, the physical density of baryons, Omega_{b}h^2=0.03 +/- 0.01, the physical density of cold dark matter, Omega_{cdm}h^2=0.2^{+0.2}_{-0.1}$, and the spectral index of primordial scalar fluctuations, n_s=1.08+/-0.1, all at the 95% confidence level. By combining our results with measurements of high-redshift supernovae we constrain the value of the cosmological constant and the fractional amount of pressureless matter in the universe to 0.45<Omega_Lambda<0.75 and 0.25<Omega_{m}<0.50, at the 95% confidence level. Our results are consistent with a flat universe and the shape parameter deduced from large scale structure, and in marginal agreement with the baryon density from big bang nucleosynthesis.
We use a frequentist statistical approach to set confidence intervals on the values of cosmological parameters using the MAXIMA-1 and COBE measurements of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. We define a $Delta chi^{2}$ statistic, simulate the measurements of MAXIMA-1 and COBE, determine the probability distribution of the statistic, and use it and the data to set confidence intervals on several cosmological parameters. We compare the frequentist confidence intervals to Bayesian credible regions. The frequentist and Bayesian approaches give best estimates for the parameters that agree within 15%, and confidence interval-widths that agree within 30%. The results also suggest that a frequentist analysis gives slightly broader confidence intervals than a Bayesian analysis. The frequentist analysis gives values of Omega=0.89{+0.26atop -0.19}, Omega_{rm B}h^2=0.026{+0.020atop -0.011} and n=1.02{+0.31atop -0.10}, and the Bayesian analysis gives values of Omega=0.98{+0.14atop -0.19}, Omega_{rm B}h^2=0.0.029{+0.015atop-0.010}, and $n=1.18{+0.10atop -0.23}$, all at the 95% confidence level.
In cosmology, the cosmic curvature $K$ and the cosmological constant $Lambda$ are two important parameters, and the values have strong influence on the behavior of the universe. In the context of normal cosmology, under the ordinary assumptions of positive mass-energy and initial negative pressure, we find the initial singularity of the universe is certainly absent and we have $K=1$. This means total spatial structure of the universe should be a 3-dimensional sphere $S^3$. For the cyclic cosmological model, we have $Lambdalesssim 10^{-24} {rm ly}^{-2}$. Obviously, such constraints would be helpful for the researches on the properties of dark matter and dark energy in cosmology.
Data from Type Ia supernovae, along with X-ray cluster estimates of the universal baryon fraction and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) determinations of the baryon-to-photon ratio, are used to provide estimates of several global cosmological parameters at epochs near zero redshift. We show that our estimate of the present baryon density is in remarkably good agreement with that inferred from BBN at high redshift, provided the primordial abundance of deuterium is relatively low and the Universe is flat. We also compare these estimates to the baryon density at z = 1100 as inferred from the CMB angular power spectrum.
We report on the cosmological parameters derived from observations with the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI), covering 40 square degrees and the multipole range 300 < l < 3500. The angular scales probed by the CBI correspond to structures which cover the mass range from 10^14 to 10^17 M_sun, and the observations reveal, for the first time, the seeds that gave rise to clusters of galaxies. These unique, high-resolution observations also show damping in the power spectrum to l ~ 2000, which we interpret as due to the finite width of the photon-baryon decoupling region and the viscosity operating at decoupling. Because the observations extend to much higher l the CBI results provide information complementary to that probed by the Boomerang, DASI, Maxima, and VSA experiments. As the observations are pushed to higher multipoles no anomalies relative to standard models appear, and extremely good consistency is found between the cosmological parameters derived for the CBI observations over the range 610 < l < 2000 and observations at lower l [abridged].
We present cosmological constraints based on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential power spectrum measurement from the recent 500 deg$^2$ SPTpol survey, the most precise CMB lensing measurement from the ground to date. We fit a flat $Lambda$CDM model to the reconstructed lensing power spectrum alone and in addition with other data sets: baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) as well as primary CMB spectra from Planck and SPTpol. The cosmological constraints based on SPTpol and Planck lensing band powers are in good agreement when analysed alone and in combination with Planck full-sky primary CMB data. With weak priors on the baryon density and other parameters, the CMB lensing data alone provide a 4% constraint on $sigma_8Omega_m^{0.25} = 0.0593 pm 0.025$.. Jointly fitting with BAO data, we find $sigma_8=0.779 pm 0.023$, $Omega_m = 0.368^{+0.032}_{-0.037}$, and $H_0 = 72.0^{+2.1}_{-2.5},text{km},text{s}^{-1},text{Mpc}^{-1} $, up to $2,sigma$ away from the central values preferred by Planck lensing + BAO. However, we recover good agreement between SPTpol and Planck when restricting the analysis to similar scales. We also consider single-parameter extensions to the flat $Lambda$CDM model. The SPTpol lensing spectrum constrains the spatial curvature to be $Omega_K = -0.0007 pm 0.0025$ and the sum of the neutrino masses to be $sum m_{ u} < 0.23$ eV at 95% C.L. (with Planck primary CMB and BAO data), in good agreement with the Planck lensing results. With the differences in the $S/N$ of the lensing modes and the angular scales covered in the lensing spectra, this analysis represents an important independent check on the full-sky Planck lensing measurement.