Consistency of the Planck CMB data and $\Lambda$CDM cosmology

TL;DR

This paper tests the consistency of Planck CMB data with the $$CDM model using Crossing statistics, finding overall agreement but noting a mild amplitude difference between temperature and polarization data.

Contribution

It applies Crossing statistics to assess Planck data consistency with $$CDM, confirming no significant deviations and highlighting a mild amplitude discrepancy.

Findings

Planck TT best fit is consistent with EE data.

EE best fit shows some inconsistency with TT, due to larger uncertainties.

No strong evidence for deviations from $$CDM in Planck spectra.

Abstract

We test the consistency between Planck temperature and polarization power spectra and the concordance model of $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter cosmology ($\Lambda$CDM) within the framework of Crossing statistics. We find that Planck TT best fit $\Lambda$CDM power spectrum is completely consistent with EE power spectrum data while EE best fit $\Lambda$CDM power spectrum is not consistent with TT data. However, this does not point to any systematic or model-data discrepancy since in the Planck EE data, uncertainties are much larger compared to the TT data. We also investigate the possibility of any deviation from $\Lambda$CDM model analyzing the Planck 2015 data. Results from TT, TE and EE data analysis indicate that no deviation is required beyond the flexibility of the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model. Our analysis thus rules out any strong evidence for beyond the concordance model in the Planck spectra data. We also report a mild amplitude difference comparing temperature and polarization data, where temperature data seems to have slightly lower amplitude than expected (consistently at all multiples), as we assume both temperature and polarization data are realizations of the same underlying cosmology.