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

摘要 9419279读数头，A.C.S. 对微波背景辐射的观测提供了对宇宙大尺度结构形成理论至关重要的信息。 在微波背景辐射中观察到的极低水平的各向异性使人们将注意力集中在结构形成理论上，该理论提出宇宙的主要物质成分是以非重子物质的形式存在的。 宇宙的主要物质组成和宇宙结构的形成是宇宙学中最基本和最重要的问题之一。 加州理工学院的Readhead博士和同事将使用欧文斯谷射电天文台的射电波长望远镜，在2到20弧分的角度尺度上研究背景辐射的各向异性。 还将进行更多的观测，以研究Sunyaev-Zel'dovich效应-星系团中热电子气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. ***