Calculating density from CMB data

[skippy1729]

Can anyone point me to some articles or book giving details of how the CMB data is processed to calculate the average density of the universe (or equivalently the average spatial curvature)?

Thanks, Skippy

 

[Chalnoth]

Can anyone point me to some articles or book giving details of how the CMB data is processed to calculate the average density of the universe (or equivalently the average spatial curvature)?

Thanks, Skippy

This is a pretty big topic.

The basic, basic outline is as follows:

1. From experiment, generate a power spectrum of the CMB with errors.
2. Compute the expected CMB power spectrum as a function of the parameters of a specific model.
3. Use the above function to determine which parameters fit the data.

Which part of this are you most interested in?

 

[Chronos]

CMB data tells us the matter content of the universe. If the matter content was less than we predict, so would be the CMB temperature fluctuations, and vice versa. The math is rather complex, but, has been thoroughly vetted.

 

[phyzguy]

As stated, a big topic. These papers might be a good place to start:

http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/dr4/map_bibliography.cfm