The Cosmic Microwave Background: Beyond the Power Spectrum

Abstract

Much recent work on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has focussed on the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies and particularly on the recovery of cosmological parameters from acoustic peaks in the power spectrum. However, there is more that can conceivably be done with CMB measurements. Here I briefly survey a few such ideas: cross-correlation with other cosmic backgrounds as a probe of the density of the Universe; CMB polarization as a gravitational-wave detector; secondary anisotropies and the ionization history of the Universe; tests of alternative-gravity theories; polarization, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and cosmic variance; and tests for a neutrino mass.