paper

Can the lack of symmetry in the COBE/DMR maps constrain the topology of the universe?

arXiv:astro-ph/9510109 · doi:10.1086/177706

Abstract

Although the cubic T^3 "small universe" has been ruled out by COBE/DMR results as an interesting cosmological model, we still have the possibility of living in a universe with a more anisotropic topology such as a rectangular T^3 "small universe" with one or two of its dimensions significantly smaller than the present horizon (which we refer to as T^1- and T^2-models, respectively). In order to rule out these anisotropic topologies as well, we apply a new data analysis method that searches for the specific kind of symmetries that these models should produce. We find that the 4 year COBE/DMR data set a lower limit on the smallest cell size for T^1- and T^2-models of 3000h^{-1} Mpc, at 95% confidence, for a scale invariant power spectrum (n=1). These results imply that ALL toroidal universes (cubes and rectangles) are ruled out as interesting cosmological models.

Minor revisions to match published version. 14 pages, with 4 figures included. Color figures and links at http://www.sns.ias.edu/~angelica/topology.html

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