Luminet Jean-Pierre, Weeks Jeffrey R, Riazuelo Alain, Lehoucq Roland, Uzan Jean-Philippe
Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France.
Nature. 2003 Oct 9;425(6958):593-5. doi: 10.1038/nature01944.
The current 'standard model' of cosmology posits an infinite flat universe forever expanding under the pressure of dark energy. First-year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) confirm this model to spectacular precision on all but the largest scales. Temperature correlations across the microwave sky match expectations on angular scales narrower than 60 degrees but, contrary to predictions, vanish on scales wider than 60 degrees. Several explanations have been proposed. One natural approach questions the underlying geometry of space--namely, its curvature and topology. In an infinite flat space, waves from the Big Bang would fill the universe on all length scales. The observed lack of temperature correlations on scales beyond 60 degrees means that the broadest waves are missing, perhaps because space itself is not big enough to support them. Here we present a simple geometrical model of a finite space--the Poincaré dodecahedral space--which accounts for WMAP's observations with no fine-tuning required. The predicted density is Omega(0) approximately 1.013 > 1, and the model also predicts temperature correlations in matching circles on the sky.
当前的宇宙学“标准模型”假定存在一个无限的平坦宇宙，在暗能量的作用下永远膨胀。威尔金森微波各向异性探测器（WMAP）的第一年数据在除最大尺度外的所有尺度上都以惊人的精度证实了这一模型。整个微波天空的温度相关性在小于60度的角尺度上符合预期，但与预测相反，在大于60度的尺度上消失了。已经提出了几种解释。一种自然的方法是质疑空间的基本几何结构，即其曲率和拓扑结构。在一个无限的平坦空间中，来自大爆炸的波会在所有长度尺度上充满宇宙。在大于60度的尺度上观测到的温度相关性缺失意味着最宽的波缺失了，这可能是因为空间本身不够大，无法支持它们。在此，我们提出一个有限空间的简单几何模型——庞加莱十二面体空间，它无需微调就能解释WMAP的观测结果。预测的密度为Ω(0)约等于1.013 > 1，并且该模型还预测了天空中匹配圆内的温度相关性。
