Do we Live in a "Small Universe"?
Ralf Aurich, Holger S. Janzer, Sven Lustig, Frank Steiner
TL;DR
This paper investigates whether the universe could be a compact flat 3-torus by analyzing cosmic microwave background data with full Boltzmann physics, finding compatibility with a universe of volume around 5000 Gpc^3.
Contribution
It provides a detailed analysis of flat compact universe models using full Boltzmann physics and WMAP data, exploring observable signatures and compatibility.
Findings
WMAP data compatible with a flat 3-torus universe
Estimated universe volume ~5x10^3 Gpc^3
Identified potential observational signatures
Abstract
We compute the effects of a compact flat universe on the angular correlation function, the angular power spectrum, the circles-in-the-sky signature, and the covariance matrix of the spherical harmonics coefficients of the cosmic microwave background radiation using the full Boltzmann physics. Our analysis shows that the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) three-year data are well compatible with the possibility that we live in a flat 3-torus with volume ~5x10^3 Gpc^3.
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