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[82.04] New Limits on the Existence of a Large Compact Dimension for the Universe

D. Menzies-Gow, G. J. Mathews (Center for Astrophysics, UND)

Recent analysis of the WMAP microwave background data has suggested the possibility of a suppression along a common axis in the quadrupole and octopole moments. If this is not an artifact of the analysis or an accident of cosmic variance then a possible explanation may be that we live in a topologically compact universe with one compact dimension inside the surface of last scattering. The symmetry axis of this dimension is then along the axis of suppression. The simplest possibility is a flat 3-torus. Using this guide to the location of the axis, other techniques can be used to pinpoint the axis. In this poster, a new method is given here for locating the axis in the case of the 3-torus, by geometrically correlating distant astrophysical objects, without relying on the error-prone determination of depth from redshift. Results are presented from current catalog data.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: gmathews@nd.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.