Year: 1997
Type: article
Abstract: By decomposing the damping tail of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies into a series of transfer functions representing individual physical effects, we provide ingredients that will aid in the reconstruction of the cosmological model from small-scale CMB anisotropy data. We accurately calibrate the model-independent effects of diffusion and reionization damping, which provide potentially the most robust information on the background cosmology. Removing these effects, we uncover model-dependent processes, such as the acoustic peak modulation and gravitational enhancement, that can help distinguish between alternate models of structure formation and provide windows into the evolution of fluctuations at various stages in their growth.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/303928
Authors: Wayne Hu, Martin White
Institutions: Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: W. M. Keck Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2116034383