The topology of the universe: the biggest manifold of them all

Abstract

Clues as to the geometry of the universe are encoded in the cosmic background radiation. Hot and cold spots in the primordial radiation may be randomly distributed in an infinite universe while in a universe with compact topology distinctive patterns can be generated. With improved vision, we could actually see if the universe is wrapped into a hexagonal prism or a hyperbolic horn. We discuss the search for such geometric patterns in predictive maps of the microwave sky.

Contribution to the Cosmology and Topology Workshop

References in corpus (6)

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• Can COBE see the shape of the universe?
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Cited by in corpus (29)

• Circles in the Sky: Finding Topology with the Microwave Background Radiation
• Topology and the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Creation of a Compact Topologically Nontrivial Inflationary Universe
• CMB Anisotropy in Compact Hyperbolic Universes I: Computing Correlation Functions
• Computing CMB Anisotropy in Compact Hyperbolic Spaces
• How the Universe got its Spots
• A Topological Signature in Cosmic Topology
• Constraining Large Scale Structure Theories with the Cosmic Background Radiation
• Spikes in Cosmic Crystallography
• COBE and Global Topology: An Example of the Application of the Identified Circles Principle
• Constraints on the Detectability of Cosmic Topology from Observational Uncertainties
• Topology beyond the horizon: how far can it be probed?
• Topological signatures in CMB temperature anisotropy maps
• Detectability of Cosmic Topology in Flat Universes
• Distinguishing Marks of Simply-connected Universes
• Ringing the eigenmodes from compact manifolds
• Signature for the Shape of the Universe
• Is there a common origin for the WMAP low multipole and for the ellipticity in BOOMERanG CMB maps?
• Editorial Note to: On the Newtonian Limit of Einstein's Theory of Gravitation (by Jürgen Ehlers)
• The shape of a small universe: signatures in the cosmic microwave background
• Cosmological Parameters and Cosmic Topology
• Weak gauge principle and electric charge quantization
• Using Cosmic Strings to Relate Local Geometry to Spatial Topology
• Path Integrals on Euclidean Space Forms
• Constraints on the cosmological density parameters and cosmic topology
• Topological Expansion, Study and Applications
• The Universe Originating from an Empty Planck-Size Torus
• A new topological perspective of expanding space-times with applications to cosmology
• Closed Spaces in Cosmology