How the Universe got its Spots

Abstract

The universe displays a three-dimensional pattern of hot and cold spots in the radiation remnant from the big bang. The global geometry of the universe can be revealed in the spatial distribution of these spots. In a topologically compact universe, distinctive patterns are especially prominent in spatial correlations of the radiation temperature. Whereas these patterns are usually washed out in statistical averages, we propose a scheme which uses the universe's spots to observe global geometry in a manner analogous to the use of multiple images of a gravitationally lensed quasar to study the geometry of the lens. To demonstrate how the geometry of space forms patterns in observations of the microwave sky, we develop a simple real-space approximation to estimate temperature correlations for any set of cosmological parameters and any global geometry. We present correlated spheres which clearly show geometric pattern formation for compact flat universes as well as for the compact negatively curved space introduced by Weeks and another discovered by Best. These examples illustrate how future satellite-based observations of the microwave background can determine the full geometry of the universe.