Unavoidable CMB spectral features and blackbody photosphere of our Universe

TL;DR

This paper reviews the inevitable spectral features in the CMB energy spectrum caused by early Universe processes, emphasizing their importance for future cosmological measurements and insights beyond other probes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the physics behind CMB spectral distortions and highlights their potential to reveal early Universe phenomena that are inaccessible by other means.

Findings

Spectral features from cosmological recombination are unavoidable.

Resonant scattering by metals during reionization can measure metal abundances.

Different types of distortions (y, nd istortions) are created at specific redshifts.

Abstract

Spectral features in the CMB energy spectrum contain a wealth of information about the physical processes in the early Universe, z < 2 x 10^6. The CMB spectral distortions are complementary to all other probes of cosmology. In fact, most of the information contained in the CMB spectrum is inaccessible by any other means. This review outlines the main physics behind the spectral features in the CMB throughout the history of the Universe, concentrating on the distortions which are inevitable and must be present at a level observable by the next generation of proposed CMB experiments. The spectral distortions considered here include spectral features from cosmological recombination, resonant scattering of CMB by metals during reionization which allows us to measure their abundances, y-type distortions during and after reionization and \mu-type and i-type (intermediate between \mu and y) distortions created at redshifts z > 1.5 x 10^4.