4-Year COBE DMR Cosmic Microwave Background Observations: Maps and Basic Results

Abstract

The cosmic microwave background radiation provides unique constraints on cosmological models. In this Letter we present a summary of the spatial properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation based on the full 4 years of COBE DMR observations, as detailed in a set of companion Letters. The anisotropy is consistent with a scale-invariant power law model and Gaussian statistics. With full use of the multi-frequency 4-year DMR data, including our estimate of the effects of Galactic emission, we find a power-law spectral index of $n=1.2\pm 0.3$ and a quadrupole normalization $Q_{rms-PS}=15.3_{-2.8}^{+3.8}$ $\hat{I}¼$K. For $n=1$ the best-fit normalization is $Q_{rms-PS}{|}_{n=1}=18\pm 1.6$ $\hat{I}¼$K. These values are consistent with both our previous 1-year and 2-year results. The results include use of the $\ell =2$ quadrupole term; exclusion of this term gives consistent results, but with larger uncertainties. The 4-year sky maps, presented in this Letter, portray an accurate overall visual impression of the anisotropy since the signal-to-noise ratio is ~2 per 10 degree sky map patch. The improved signal-to-noise ratio of the 4-year maps also allows for improvements in Galactic modeling and limits on non-Gaussian statistics.

11 pages plus 2 PostScript figures. Figures 2 and 4 are not included, but are available upon request to [email protected]. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal (Letters)