Published March 5, 2014 | Version v1
Journal article

A discrepancy observed in the dipole anisotropy in the radio sky at 1.4 GHz and that in the CMBR – A threat to the cosmological principle?

  • 1. Astronomy and Astrophysics Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380009 (India)

Description

According to the cosmological principle, the sky brightness at any frequency should appear uniform in all directions to an observer considered to be fixed in the co-moving coordinate system of the expanding universe. However a peculiar motion of the observer introduces a dipole anisotropy in the observed sky brightness, which should be independent of the observing frequency. We have examined the angular distribution in the radio-sky brightness, i.e., an integrated emission from discrete sources per unit solid angle, from the NVSS sample containing 1.8 million discrete radio sources at 1.4 GHz. Our results give a dipole anisotropy which is in the same direction as that of the CMBR from the COBE or WMAP, but the magnitude we find is about 4 times larger at a statistically significant (about 3σ) level. A genuine difference between the two dipoles cannot arise from the observer's motion alone, and it would imply intrinsically anisotropic universe, with anisotropy changing with the epoch. This would violate the cosmological principle where isotropy of the universe is assumed for all epochs, and on which the whole modern cosmology is based upon

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/481/1/012007

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Conference Series (Online)
Journal Volume
481
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[5 p.]
ISSN
1742-6596

Conference

Title
National conference on contemporary issues in high energy physics and cosmology
Acronym
NC-HEPC 2013
Dates
12-14 Feb 2013
Place
Guwahati (India)

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
46074047
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION; ANISOTROPY; BRIGHTNESS; COORDINATES; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; COSMOLOGY; DIPOLES; GHZ RANGE; INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE; ISOTROPY; SKY; UNIVERSE
Descriptors DEC
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; DISTRIBUTION; FREQUENCY RANGE; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; MULTIPOLES; OPTICAL PROPERTIES; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES