Alternative Cosmology Group Newsletter - April 2007

Posted 4/26/07

WMAP anomalies

The anomalous large scale anisotropies of the WMAP measurements of the CBR continue to be studied intensively and many explanations are being put forward. Rakic and Schwarz show that the WMAP result is highly incompatible with the consensus cosmology, but is a planar, rather than axial, alignment. In two papers, Longo points out, as others have, the coincidence of the WMAP alignment and the asymmetry in galaxy spins, which could imply a very large scale magnetic field. Rudnick et al point to other correlations that imply the WMAP results could be affected by large sale inhomogeneities, while Verschuur questions if some of the WMAP results are in fact generated within our own galaxy.

Correlating anomalies of the microwave sky: The Good, the Evil and the Axis
Authors: Aleksandar Rakic, Dominik J. Schwarz
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703266v2

Is the Cosmic "Axis of Evil" due to a Large-Scale Magnetic Field?
Authors: Michael J. Longo
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703694v2

Does the Universe Have a Handedness?
Authors: Michael J. Longo
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703325v2

Extragalactic Radio Sources and the WMAP Cold Spot
Authors: Lawrence Rudnick, Shea Brown, Liliya R. Williams
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0908v1

High Galactic latitude interstellar neutral hydrogen (HI) structure and associated acoustic-scale WMAP hot spots
Authors: Gerrit L. Verschuur
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.1125v1

SZ anomaly continues

The lack of SZ effect has raised questions about where the CBR originates from. Beilby and Shanks show that attempts to resolve this anomaly come up short.

Anomalous SZ Contribution to 3 Year WMAP Data
Authors: R.M. Bielby, T. Shanks
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703470v1

Hubble anisotropy

A final anisotropy studied this month is in the Hubble constant, which is not quite an isotropic constant.

Anisotropy in the Hubble constant as observed in the HST Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project results
Authors: M. L. McClure, C. C. Dyer
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703556v1

Older and older high-z galaxies

More evidence that galaxies are too old for conventional cosmology.

Unveiling the oldest and most massive galaxies at very high redshift
Authors: G. Rodighiero (1), A. Cimatti (2), A. Franceschini (1), M. Brusa (3), J. Fritz (4), M. Bolzonella (4) (1-Padova University, 2-Bologna University, 3-MPE, 4-INAF-Bologna)
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703276v1

Too little Helium

Main sequence stars seem to have less helium that Big bang Nucleosynthesis predicts.

The Helium abundance and Delta Y / Delta Z in Lower Main Sequence stars
Authors: Luca Casagrande (1,2), Chris Flynn (1,2), Laura Portinari (1,2), Leo Girardi (3), Raul Jimenez (4) ((1) Tuorla Observatory, (2) University of Turku, (3) INAF Padova Observatory, (4) UPenn)
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703766v1

More on MOND and the Bullet clusters

Tow paper indicate that it is easier to explain the Bullet cluster dynamic with MOND than with CDM.

The collision velocity of the bullet cluster in conventional and modified dynamics
Authors: Garry W. Angus (St. Andrews), Stacy S. McGaugh (Maryland)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0381v1

Timing and Lensing of the Colliding Bullet Clusters: barely enough time and gravity to accelerate the bullet
Authors: HongSheng Zhao (SUPA, St Andrews)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0094v1

Periodicities in absorption line systems

The redshift distribution of absorption-line systems in QSO spectra
Authors: A.I. Ryabinkov, A.D. Kaminker, D.A. Varshalovich
http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0703277v1

Diffuse Gamma ray background

Measurements on diffuse gamma rays are reported. While not done in this paper, such measurement can set limits on the distribution of anti-matter in the universe.

The Extragalactic Gamma Ray Background
Authors: Charles D. Dermer (NRL)
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.2888v1

More on nature of soft-x-ray emission from clusters.

Possible non-thermal nature of the soft-excess emission in the cluster of galaxies Sersic 159-03
Authors: N. Werner, J.S. Kaastra, Y. Takei, R. Lieu, J. Vink, T. Tamura
http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0475v1