The Cosmic Symphony, from
SciAm 290 (2004) 44
by Wayne Hu and Martin White:
New observations of the cosmic microwave background
radiation show that the early universe resounded with harmonious oscillations.
(An article introducing CMB research to readers of Scientific American
as part of a special issue on Cosmology.)
What have the Romans has the CMB
ever done for us?,
by Charles Lawrence, Douglas Scott and Martin White:
The COBE satellite, and the DMR experiment in particular, was
extraordinarily successful. However, the DMR results were announced about
7 years ago, during which time a great deal more has been learned about
anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
We assess the current state of knowledge, and discuss where we might be going.
The CMB experiments currently being designed and built, including long-duration
balloons, interferometers, and two space missions, promise to address several
fundamental cosmological issues.
We present our evaluation of what we already know, what we are beginning to
learn now, and what the future may bring.
The Cosmic Rosetta Stone, adapted from an article
in Physics Today (November 1997, p.32) by
Chuck Bennett, Michael Turner and Martin White:
The ten's of microKelvin variations in the temperature of the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) radiation across the sky encode a wealth of
information about the Universe.
The full-sky, high-resolution maps of the CMB
that will be made in the next decade should
determine cosmological parameters to unprecedented precision
and sharply test inflation and other theories of the early Universe.
A CMB Polarization Primer
by Wayne Hu and Martin White:
A pedagogical and phenomenological introduction to the study of cosmic
microwave background (CMB) polarization, including many color figures and
some animations. Designed to build intuition about the prospects and
challenges facing the detection of polarization in the CMB.
Sensitivity to Cosmological Parameters:
Some MPEG animations showing how the angular power spectrum changes
as parameters are varied. Because the CMB power spectrum is sensitive
to almost all of the cosmological parameters in different ways, a precision
measurement of the power spectrum can be used to
determine the cosmological
parameters (and much more!).
Probes of large-scale structure.
Details of the many ways the large-scale structure of the universe is
being probed, plus a list of galaxy surveys with Web pages, links to
movies of cluster formation etc. Of related interest is a page on
models of structure formation and one showing
pictures of structures in different models.
A low resolution AVI movie of
a flythrough of a simulation is also available (higher resolution availble
on request).
Dark matter.
An introduction to the question of dark matter, the reasons why we believe
it exists and what it might be, plus a reading list.
Also contains an elementary description of
big-bang nucleosynthesis and the
Hubble expansion.
Other Introductory Material on the Web:
An Introduction to Cosmology on the WMAP
Home Page or
Ned Wright's
Cosmology Tutorial.
What is Theoretical
Cosmology by J. Cohn and M. White.
Wayne Hu's
CMB
Introduction.
See also this on line reading list.
The Sky at Different Wavelengths
Some maps of the sky at different wavelengths.