What do we learn from CMB observations

Abstract

We give an account, at non-expert and quantitative level, of physics behind the CMB temperature anisotropy and polarization and their peculiar features. We discuss, in particular, how cosmological parameters are determined from the CMB measurements and their combinations with other observations. We emphasize that CMB is the major source of information on the primordial density perturbations and, possibly, gravitational waves, and discuss the implication for our understanding of the extremely early Universe.

This is review given at 38 Itep Winter School, Moscow, 13-20 February 2010; to be pulished in Physics of Atomic Nuclei; v2 minor changes to match published version