A health checkup test of the standard cosmological model in view of recent Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropies experiments

• Published in: Physical Review D
• Main Authors: Di Valentino, Eleonora, Giarè, William, Melchiorri, Alessandro, Silk, Joseph
• Other Authors: Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: power spectrum: angular dependence; cosmic background radiation: temperature; temperature: anisotropy; cosmic background radiation: anisotropy; satellite: Planck; cosmological model; polarization; tension; pole; anomaly; WMAP; data analysis method; [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Lambda; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03814115; https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.106.103506

International audience We present an updated data-analysis comparison of the most recent observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature anisotropies and polarization angular power spectra released by four different experiments: the Planck satellite on one side, and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACTPol) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT-3G), combined with the WMAP satellite 9-years observation data in order to be "Planck-independent" on the other side. We investigate in a systematic way 8 extended cosmological models that differ from the baseline $\Lambda$CDM case by the inclusion of many different combinations of additional degrees of freedom. Our analysis provides several hints for anomalies in the CMB angular power spectra in tension with the standard cosmological model. This indicates that either significant unaccounted-for systematics in the data are producing biased results or that $\Lambda$CDM is an incorrect/incomplete description of Nature. We conclude that only future independent high-precision CMB temperature and polarization measurements could provide a definitive answer.