First Results from MAP

Professor David Spergel
Princeton University

4:15-5:15 Tuesday February 11, 2003

Abstract

The new results from the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) have important implications for our understanding of cosmology. We can extrapolate forwards in time from z = 1100 and compare the predicted properties of the universe to astronomical observations at z < 6. We can also extrapolate backwards in time and gain new insights into the physics of the early universe. While MAP answers many of the traditional questions that have been the focus of cosmology, it raises a whole new set of questions. I will review the recent results and then look forward to what we will be able to learn in the coming years from combining MAP with various SDSS data sets, from upcoming MAP data and from future CMB experiments.

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