Studies of the Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation on 2' to 20' Angular Scales

摘要：微波背景辐射的观测为宇宙大尺度结构形成的理论提供了至关重要的信息。在微波背景辐射中观测到的极低水平的各向异性引起了人们对结构形成理论的关注，这些理论提出宇宙的主要物质含量是以非重子物质形式存在的。宇宙的主要物质含量和宇宙结构形成的问题是基本的，也是宇宙学中最重要的问题之一。里德黑德博士和加州理工学院的同事们将利用欧文斯谷射电天文台的射电波长望远镜，在2到20角分的角尺度上研究背景辐射的各向异性。进一步的观测将用于研究Sunyaev-Zel'dovich效应——星系团中热电子气体对微波背景辐射光子的散射。＊＊＊

ABSTRACT 9419279 Readhead, A.C.S. Observations of the Microwave Background Radiation provide information which is crucial to theories of the formation of large-scale structure in the Universe. The extremely low level of anisotropy observed in the microwave background radiation has focused attention on theories of structure formation which propose that the dominant matter content of the Universe is in the form of non-baryonic matter. The questions of the dominant matter content of the Universe and the formation of structure in the Universe are fundamental and are amongst the most important questions in cosmology. Dr. Readhead and colleagues at Cal Tech will examine the anisotropy of the background radiation on angular scales from 2 to 20 arcminutes using radio wavelength telescopes at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. Additional observations will be carried out to study the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect -- the scattering of microwave background radiation photons by the hot electron gas in galaxy clusters. ***