Asymmetries in the angular distribution of the CMB

TL;DR

This study examines asymmetries in the CMB temperature distribution across different quadrants using WMAP data, finding significant asymmetries especially in the southeastern quadrant that are robust across various masks and simulations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of quadrant asymmetries in the CMB, demonstrating their robustness and independence from cold spot regions, within the b1CDM model framework.

Findings

Significant asymmetries between SEQ and other quadrants with probabilities as low as 0.1%.

Excess power in the SEQ at scales >100 degrees independent of masks.

No specific responsible region identified within the SEQ quadrant.

Abstract

We investigate some of the asymmetries reported in the CMB temperature angular distribution considering the {\Lambda}CDM model in the 3, 5 and 7 year WMAP data. We aim to analyze the 4 quadrants of the ILC CMB maps using 3 Galactic cuts: the WMAP KQ85 mask, a |b|<10 degrees and the WMAP KQ85 mask +|b|<10 degrees Galactic cuts. We used the two-point angular correlation function in the WMAP maps for each of their quadrants. The same procedure was done for 1000 Monte Carlo simulations that were produced using the WMAP team {\Lambda}CDM best-fit power spectrum. We also changed the quadrupole and octopole amplitudes to fit their observable WMAP values in the {\Lambda}CDM model, hereafter M{\Lambda}CDM. Our analysis showed asymmetries between the southeastern quadrant (SEQ) and the other quadrants (southwestern quadrant (SWQ), northeastern quadrant (NEQ) and northwestern quadrant (NWQ)). Over all WMAP maps, the probability for the occurrence of the SEQ-NEQ, SEQ-SWQ and SEQ-NWQ asymmetries varies from 0.1% (SEQ-NEQ) to 8.5% (SEQ-SWQ) using the KQ85 mask and the KQ85 mask + |b|<10 degrees Galactic cut, respectively. We also calculated the probabilities for the M{\Lambda}CDM, finding no significant differences in the results. Moreover, the cold spot region was covered with masks of 5,10 and 15 degrees radius and again the results remained unchanged. This analysis was also repeated for random regions in the SEQ quadrant with a 15-degree mask and the SEQ quadrant still remained asymmetric with respect to the other quadrants of the CMB map. We found an excess of power in the TPCF at scales >100 degrees in the SEQ with respect to the other quadrants that is independent of the Galactic cut used, and found no evidence for its possible relation with the cold spot signal. We could not find any specific region within the SEQ that might be considered responsible for the quadrant asymmetry.