Book contents
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- 4 Discovery of the CMB
- 5 CMB phenomenology
- 6 Standard “textbook” history and its shortcomings
- 7 Emergence of precision cosmology
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
5 - CMB phenomenology
from Part II - Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2024
Book contents
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- The Cosmic Microwave Background
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Physical cosmology: A brief introduction
- Part II Discovery of the CMB and current cosmological orthodoxy
- 4 Discovery of the CMB
- 5 CMB phenomenology
- 6 Standard “textbook” history and its shortcomings
- 7 Emergence of precision cosmology
- Part III What constitutes an unorthodoxy? An epistemological framework of cosmology
- Part IV Moderate unorthodoxies: The CMB with the Big Bang
- Part V Radical unorthodoxies: The CMB without the Big Bang
- Part VI Formation of the orthodoxy and the alternatives: Epistemological lessons
- Part VII Other philosophically relevant aspects of the CMB
- Book part
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
The chapter presents the key properties and the evolution of satellite measurements before diving into the history of various explanations of the CMB. The shape of the CMB spectrum reflecting the black body radiation and its unusual isotropy are the essential properties telling us about the origin, but its temperature is also dependent on other contingent factors. The chapter briefly discusses details of the physical process behind such properties and the relevance of their ever-more precise satellite measurements and presents these in diagrams.
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- The Cosmic Microwave BackgroundHistorical and Philosophical Lessons, pp. 24 - 27Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024