A Heliosheath Model for the Origin of the CMB non-Monopole Spectrum

TL;DR

This paper proposes a non-cosmological model attributing the low-order multipoles and anomalies of the CMB spectrum to processes occurring in the heliosheath's termination shock region around the solar system.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heliosheath-based model explaining CMB anomalies without cosmological origins, emphasizing plasma processes and local astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Heliosheath plasma can imprint CMB multipoles and alignments.

TS synchrotron radiation may explain ARCADE 2 CMB distortion.

Magnetoacoustic oscillations could account for higher-order multipoles.

Abstract

A non-cosmological origin for the CMB low-order multipoles and associated anomalies is suggested in this paper. We discuss the possibility that these features of the power spectrum originate in the termination shock (TS) region of the heliosheath that surrounds the solar system. If the intrinsic CMB spectrum is assumed to be a pure monopole (2.73K) then thermal processes occurring within an ellipsoidal-shaped plasma region of the TS region could imprint the observed low-order multipoles and their alignment (so-called 'axis of exil') onto this background CMB. A key requirement of the model is that the TS plasma be characterized as an optically thin graybody with non-LTE perturbations to explain both the blackbody and non-blackbody anomalies. Non-thermal TS processes are also discussed. TS synchrotron radiation is shown as a possible cause for the reported ARCADE 2 CMB distortion. Magnetoacoustic oscillations and heliosheath turbulence are suggested as possible sources for the higher-order multipole moments of the CMB. Data from the ongoing Voyager missions is critical to this study. Research problems are identified for future work to better validate the heuristic models presented here.