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Cosmology from start to finish

Nature volume 440, pages 1126–1131 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Cosmology is undergoing a revolution. With recent precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, large galaxy redshift surveys, better measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe and a host of other astrophysical observations, there is now a standard, highly constrained cosmological model. It is not a cosmology that was predicted. Unidentified dark particles dominate the matter content of our Universe, and mysteries surround the processes responsible for the accelerated expansion at its earliest moments (inflation?) and for its recent acceleration (dark energy?). New measurements must address the fundamental questions: what happened at the birth of the Universe, and what is its ultimate fate?

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Figure 1: A map projection of the full-sky CMB anisotropy observed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP)11.
Figure 2: The angular power spectrum of the WMAP data, supplemented by CBI and ACBAR data at high multipole moments (smaller angular scales)10,11.
Figure 3: The supernova Ia Hubble diagram48.
Figure 4: The galaxy redshift–space correlation function reveals baryon acoustic oscillations.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, 3400 North Charles Street, Maryland, USA

    Charles L. Bennett

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Bennett, C. Cosmology from start to finish. Nature 440, 1126–1131 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04803

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