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arXiv · 1606.03375

Status of CMB observations in 2015

Martin Bucher
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Abstract

The 2.725 K cosmic microwave background has played a key role in the development of modern cosmology by providing a solid observational foundation for constraining possible theories of what happened at very large redshifts and theoretical speculation reaching back almost to the would-be big bang initial singularity. After recounting some of the lesser known history of this area, I summarize the current observational situation and also discuss some exciting challenges that lie ahead: the search for B modes, the precision mapping of the CMB gravitational lensing potential, and the ultra-precise characterization of the CMB frequency spectrum, which would allow the exploitation of spectral distortions to probe new physics.

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Martin Bucher. 2016-06-15. Status of CMB observations in 2015. https://doi.org/10.1142/s2010194516601885

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