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A robust constraint on cosmic textures from the cosmic microwave background
- Source :
- Phys.Rev.Lett.108:241301,2012
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information which has been pivotal in establishing the current cosmological model. These data can also be used to test well-motivated additions to this model, such as cosmic textures. Textures are a type of topological defect that can be produced during a cosmological phase transition in the early universe, and which leave characteristic hot and cold spots in the CMB. We apply Bayesian methods to carry out a rigorous test of the texture hypothesis, using full-sky data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. We conclude that current data do not warrant augmenting the standard cosmological model with textures. We rule out at 95% confidence models that predict more than 6 detectable cosmic textures on the full sky.<br />Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. v2: replaced with version accepted by PRL (minor amendments to reduce length and address referee comments)
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Journal :
- Phys.Rev.Lett.108:241301,2012
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.1203.1928
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.241301