CMB Anisotropies and the Determination of Cosmological Parameters

Abstract

I review the basic theory of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in adiabatic cold dark matter cosmologies. The latest observational results on the CMB power spectrum are consistent with the simplest inflationary models and indicate that the Universe is close to spatially flat with a nearly scale invariant fluctuation spectrum. We are also beginning to see interesting constraints on the density of CDM, with a best fit value of omega_c = Omega_c h^2 of about 0.1. The CMB constraints, when combined with observations of distant Type Ia supernovae, are converging on a Lambda-dominated Universe with Omega_m approx 0.3 and Omega_Lambda approx 0.7.