A first trip to the world of particle physics

April 23, 2013 by admin

On March 21st the ESA Planck satellite cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing potential power spectra measurements are publicly available. Planck measurements at multipoles l > 40 perfectly agree with the so-called LambdaCDM scenario (a flat universe with a cosmological constant as the dark energy component, with a power law of adiabatic primordial perturbations).

At low multipoles (20<l<40) (i.e. at the largest scales), there are some features in the Planck spectra which may indicate that the LCDM model is incomplete. However, next year the Planck team will present their final data release with polarization data included. These future data, when combined with other cosmological measurements, will be able to tell us more about the current inconsistencies.