Is the low-l microwave background cosmic?
Abstract
The large-angle (low-l) correlations of the Cosmic Microwave Background exhibit several statistically significant anomalies compared to the standard inflationary big-bang model, however no connection has hitherto been drawn between them. Here we show that the quadrupole and octopole are far more correlated (99.97% C.L.) than previously thought: the quadrupole plane and the three octopole planes are remarkably aligned. Also these planes are orthogonal to the ecliptic at a level inconsistent with gaussian random skies at 99.8% C.L. Furthermore the normals to these planes are aligned at 99.9% C.L. with the direction of the cosmological dipole and with the equinoxes. In a combined quadrupole-octopole map, the ecliptic plane narrowly threads between a hot spot and a cold spot over approximately 1/3 of the sky, and separates the three strongest extrema (in the south ecliptic hemisphere) from the three weakest extrema (in the north ecliptic hemisphere).Keywords
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