We present a brief review of current theory and observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). New predictions for cosmological defect theories and an overview of the inflationary theory are discussed. Recent results from various observations of the anisotropies of the microwave background are described and a summary of the proposed experiments is presented. A new analysis technique based on Bayesian statistics that can be used to reconstruct the underlying sky fluctuations is summarised. Current CMB data is used to set some preliminary constraints on the values of fundamental cosmological parameters $\Omega$ and $H_\circ$ using the maximum likelihood technique. In addition, secondary anisotropies due to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect are described.
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Since a Living Reviews in Relativity article may evolve over time, please cite the access <date>, which uniquely identifies the version of the article you are referring to:
Aled Jones and Anthony N. Lasenby,
"The Cosmic Microwave Background",
Living Rev. Relativity 1, (1998), 11. URL (cited on <date>):
http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-1998-11
ORIGINAL | http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-1998-11 |
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Title | The Cosmic Microwave Background |
Author | Aled Jones / Anthony N. Lasenby |
Date | accepted 29 September 1998, published 30 September 1998 |