We present a formalism for analyzing a full-sky temperature and polarization map of the cosmic microwave background. Temperature maps are analyzed by expanding over the set of spherical harmonics to give multipole moments of the two-point correlation function. Polarization, which is described by a second-rank tensor, can be treated analogously by expanding in the appropriate tensor spherical ha...

We compute the locations of satellite galaxies with respect to their hosts using the ΛCDM GIF simulation. If the major axes of the hosts' images are perfectly aligned with the major axes of their projected mass, the satellites are located preferentially close to the hosts' major axes. In this case, the degree of anisotropy in the satellite locations is a good tracer of the flattening of the hos...

Quantum cosmology in the presence of a fundamental minimal length is analyzed in the context of the flat isotropic and the Taub cosmological models. Such minimal scale comes out from a generalized uncertainty principle and the quantization is performed in the minisuperspace representation. Both the quantum Universes are singularity-free and (i) in the isotropic model no evidences for a Big-Boun...

The problem of detecting Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) clusters in multifrequency CMB observations is investigated using a number of filtering techniques. A multifilter approach is introduced, which optimizes the detection of SZ clusters on microwave maps. An alternative method is also investigated, in which maps at different frequencies are combined in an optimal manner so that existing filtering te...

We study the statistical properties of spherical harmonic modes of temperature maps of the cosmic microwave background. Unlike other studies, which focus mainly on properties of the amplitudes of these modes, we look instead at their phases. In particular, we present a simple measure of phase correlation that can be diagnostic of departures from the standard assumption that primordial density f...

ABSTRACT We report a new analysis of the stellar dynamics in the Galactic centre, based on improved sky and line-of-sight velocities for more than one hundred stars in the central few arcseconds from the black hole candidate SgrA*. The main results are: • Overall the stellar motions do not deviate strongly from isotropy. For those 32 stars with a determination of all three velocity components t...

The Di†use Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft was designed primarily to conduct a systematic search for an isotropic cosmic infrared background (CIB) in 10 photometric bands from 1.25 to 240 km. The results of that search are presented here. Conservative limits on the CIB are obtained from the minimum observed brightness in all-sky maps at...

The Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft was designed primarily to conduct a systematic search for an isotropic cosmic infrared background (CIB) in ten photometric bands from 1.25 to 240 μm. The results of that search are presented here. Conservative limits on the CIB are obtained from the minimum observed brightness in all-sky maps ...