Forecasting cosmic parameter errors from microwave background anisotropy experiments
Abstract
Accurate measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies with an angular resolution of a few arcminutes can be used to determine fundamental cosmological parameters such as the densities of baryons, cold and hot dark matter, and certain combinations of the cosmological constant and the curvature of the Universe to per cent-level precision. Assuming that the true theory is a variant of inflationary cold dark matter cosmologies, we calculate the accuracy with which cosmological parameters can be determined by the next generation of CMB satellites, MAP and Planck. We pay special attention to: (i) the accuracy of the computed derivatives of the CMB power spectrum C_L (ii) the number and choices of parameters; and (iii) the inclusion of prior knowledge of the values of various parameters.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/291.1.L33
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9702100
- Bibcode:
- 1997MNRAS.291L..33B
- Keywords:
-
- Relic Radiation;
- Radiation Measurement;
- Dark Matter;
- Baryons;
- Power Spectra;
- Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite;
- Angular Resolution;
- Anisotropy;
- Cosmology;
- Error Analysis;
- Astrophysics;
- COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND;
- COSMOLOGY: THEORY;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 10 pages, LaTeX, with 1 figure included. Revised version to appear in MNRAS with updated text, tables and figure. Text and colour figures also available at ftp://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/bond/bet97 http://www.sns.ias.edu/~max/parameters.html (faster from the US), from http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~max/parameters.html (faster from Europe)