The "axis of evil" is a name given to the apparent correlation between the plane of the Solar System and aspects of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It gives the plane of the Solar System and hence the location of Earth a greater significance than might be expected by chance – a result which has been claimed to be evidence of a departure from the Copernican principle as assumed in the concordance model.
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation signature presents a direct large-scale view of the universe that can be used to identify whether our position or movement has any particular significance. There has been much publicity about analysis of results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck mission that show both expected and unexpected anisotropies in the CMB.[1] The motion of the solar system, and the orientation of the plane of the ecliptic are aligned with features of the microwave sky, which on conventional thinking are caused by structure at the edge of the observable universe.[2][3] Specifically, with respect to the ecliptic plane the "top half" of the CMB is slightly cooler than the "bottom half"; furthermore, the quadrupole and octupole axes are only a few degrees apart, and these axes are aligned with the top/bottom divide.[4]
The new results are either telling us that all of science is wrong and we're the center of the universe, or maybe the data is simply incorrect, or maybe it's telling us there's something weird about the microwave background results and that maybe, maybe there's something wrong with our theories on the larger scales.
Some anomalies in the background radiation have been reported which are aligned with the plane of our solar system. These are unexplained by the Copernican principle and suggest that the solar system's alignment is special in relation to the background radiation of the universe.[6] Land and Magueijo in 2005 dubbed this alignment the "axis of evil" owing to the implications for current models of the cosmos,[7] although several later studies have shown systematic errors in the collection of those data and the way they have been processed.[8][9][10] Various studies of the CMB anisotropy data either confirm the Copernican principle,[11] model the alignments in a non-homogeneous universe still consistent with the principle,[12] or attempt to explain them as local phenomena.[13] Some of these alternate explanations were discussed by Copi et al., who claimed that data from the Planck satellite could shed significant light on whether the preferred direction and alignments were spurious.[14][15] Coincidence is a possible explanation. Chief scientist from WMAP, Charles L. Bennett suggested coincidence and human psychology were involved, "I do think there is a bit of a psychological effect, people want to find unusual things."[16]
Data from the Planck Telescope published in 2013 has since found stronger evidence for the anisotropy.[17] "For a long time, part of the community was hoping that this would go away, but it hasn’t," says Dominik Schwarz of the University of Bielefeld in Germany.[18]
As of 2015, there is no consensus on the nature of this and other observed anomalies[19] and their statistical significance is unclear. For example, a study that includes the Planck mission results shows how masking techniques could introduce errors that when taken into account can render several anomalies, including the axis of evil, not statistically significant.[20] A 2016 study compared isotropic and anisotropic cosmological models against WMAP and Planck data and found no evidence for anisotropy.[21] In 2020, Lior Shamir of Kansas State University calculated that spin directions of spiral galaxies showed further evidence of unexpected large-scale anisotropy.[22]
^Anthony Challinor (2012). "CMB anisotropy science: A review". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 8: 42–52. arXiv:1210.6008. Bibcode:2013IAUS..288...42C. doi:10.1017/S1743921312016663. S2CID 41756934.
^CERN Courier "Does the motion of the solar system affect the microwave sky?"
^C. J. Copi; D. Huterer; D. J. Schwarz; G. D. Starkman (2006). "On the large-angle anomalies of the microwave sky". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 367 (1): 79–102. arXiv:astro-ph/0508047. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.367...79C. CiteSeerX10.1.1.490.6391. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09980.x. S2CID 6184966. preprint
^Sutter, Paul (2017-07-29). "The (Cosmological) Axis of Evil". Space.com.
^"The Energy of Empty Space That Isn't Zero". www.edge.org. 2006-05-07. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
^Mariano, Antonio; Perivolaropoulos, Leandros (2013). "CMB maximum temperature asymmetry axis: Alignment with other cosmic asymmetries". Physical Review D. 87 (4): 043511. arXiv:1211.5915. Bibcode:2013PhRvD..87d3511M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.87.043511. ISSN 1550-7998. S2CID 119258571.
^Land, Kate; João Magueijo, João (2005). "Examination of Evidence for a Preferred Axis in the Cosmic Radiation Anisotropy". Physical Review Letters. 95 (7): 071301. arXiv:astro-ph/0502237. Bibcode:2005PhRvL..95g1301L. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.071301. PMID 16196772. S2CID 119473590.
^Sawangwit, Utane; Shanks, Tom (2010). "Lambda-CDM and the WMAP Power Spectrum Beam Profile Sensitivity". arXiv:1006.1270v1 [astro-ph].
^Liu, Hao; et al. (2010). "Diagnosing Timing Error in WMAP Data". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 413 (1): L96–L100. arXiv:1009.2701. Bibcode:2011MNRAS.413L..96L. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01041.x. S2CID 118739762.
^Zhang, Pengjie; Stebbins, Albert (2011). "Confirmation of the Copernican Principle at Gpc Radial Scale and above from the Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Power Spectrum". Physical Review Letters. 107 (4): 041301. arXiv:1009.3967. Bibcode:2011PhRvL.107d1301Z. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.041301. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 21866989. S2CID 17627683.
^Buckley, Robert G.; Schlegel, Eric M. (2013). "CMB dipoles and other low-order multipoles in the quasispherical Szekeres model". Physical Review D. 87 (2): 023524. arXiv:1907.08684. Bibcode:2013PhRvD..87b3524B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.87.023524. ISSN 1550-7998. S2CID 124552647.
^Hansen, M.; Kim, J.; Frejsel, A.M.; Ramazanov, S.; Naselsky, P.; Zhao, W.; Burigana, C. (2012). "Can residuals of the solar system foreground explain low multipole anomalies of the CMB?". Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2012 (10): 059. arXiv:1206.6981. Bibcode:2012JCAP...10..059H. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2012/10/059. ISSN 1475-7516. S2CID 118396636.
^Copi, Craig J.; Huterer, Dragan; Schwarz, Dominik J.; Starkman, Glenn D. (2010). "Large-angle anomalies in the CMB". Advances in Astronomy. 2010: 847541. arXiv:1004.5602. Bibcode:2010AdAst2010E..92C. doi:10.1155/2010/847541. ISSN 1687-7969. S2CID 13823900.
^Copi, Craig J.; Huterer, Dragan; Schwarz, Dominik J.; Starkman, Glenn D. (2007-01-08). "The Uncorrelated Universe: Statistical Anisotropy and the Vanishing Angular Correlation Function in WMAP Years 1-3". Physical Review D. 75 (2): 023507. arXiv:astro-ph/0605135. Bibcode:2007PhRvD..75b3507C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.75.023507. ISSN 1550-7998. S2CID 15702227.
^"Found: Hawking's initials written into the universe". New Scientist. 2010-02-07.
^Planck Collaboration (2013). "Planck 2013 results. XXIII. Isotropy and statistics of the CMB". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 571 (27): A23. arXiv:1303.5083. Bibcode:2014A&A...571A..23P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321534. S2CID 13037411.
^Santos, L.; Cabella, P.; Villela, T.; Zhao, W. (2015-10-05). "Influence of Planck foreground masks in the large angular scale quadrant CMB asymmetry". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 584: A115. arXiv:1510.01009. Bibcode:2015A&A...584A.115S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201526713. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 119028545.
^Rassat, A.; Starck, J.-L.; Paykari, P.; Sureau, F.; Bobin, J. (2014-08-04). "Planck CMB Anomalies: Astrophysical and Cosmological Secondary Effects and the Curse of Masking". Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. 2014 (8): 006. arXiv:1405.1844. Bibcode:2014JCAP...08..006R. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/006. ISSN 1475-7516. S2CID 119095714.
^Saadeh, Daniela; Feeney, Stephen M.; Pontzen, Andrew; Peiris, Hiranya V.; McEwen, Jason D. (2016-09-21). "How isotropic is the Universe?". Physical Review Letters. 117 (13): 131302. arXiv:1605.07178. Bibcode:2016PhRvL.117m1302S. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.131302. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 27715088. S2CID 453412.
^Shamir, Lior (August 2020). "Patterns of galaxy spin directions in SDSS and Pan-STARRS show parity violation and multipoles". Astrophysics and Space Science. 365 (8): 136. arXiv:2007.16116. Bibcode:2020Ap&SS.365..136S. doi:10.1007/s10509-020-03850-1. S2CID 220919897.
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The axis of evil is a name given to the apparent correlation between the plane of the Solar System and aspects of the cosmic microwave background CMB It gives the plane of the Solar System and hence the location of Earth a greater significance than might be expected by chance a result which has been claimed to be evidence of a departure from the Copernican principle as assumed in the concordance model Contents 1 Overview 2 Observations 3 See also 4 ReferencesOverview EditThe cosmic microwave background CMB radiation signature presents a direct large scale view of the universe that can be used to identify whether our position or movement has any particular significance There has been much publicity about analysis of results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP and Planck mission that show both expected and unexpected anisotropies in the CMB 1 The motion of the solar system and the orientation of the plane of the ecliptic are aligned with features of the microwave sky which on conventional thinking are caused by structure at the edge of the observable universe 2 3 Specifically with respect to the ecliptic plane the top half of the CMB is slightly cooler than the bottom half furthermore the quadrupole and octupole axes are only a few degrees apart and these axes are aligned with the top bottom divide 4 Lawrence Krauss is quoted as follows in a 2006 Edge org article 5 The new results are either telling us that all of science is wrong and we re the center of the universe or maybe the data is simply incorrect or maybe it s telling us there s something weird about the microwave background results and that maybe maybe there s something wrong with our theories on the larger scales Observations EditSee also Cosmological principle Observations Some anomalies in the background radiation have been reported which are aligned with the plane of our solar system These are unexplained by the Copernican principle and suggest that the solar system s alignment is special in relation to the background radiation of the universe 6 Land and Magueijo in 2005 dubbed this alignment the axis of evil owing to the implications for current models of the cosmos 7 although several later studies have shown systematic errors in the collection of those data and the way they have been processed 8 9 10 Various studies of the CMB anisotropy data either confirm the Copernican principle 11 model the alignments in a non homogeneous universe still consistent with the principle 12 or attempt to explain them as local phenomena 13 Some of these alternate explanations were discussed by Copi et al who claimed that data from the Planck satellite could shed significant light on whether the preferred direction and alignments were spurious 14 15 Coincidence is a possible explanation Chief scientist from WMAP Charles L Bennett suggested coincidence and human psychology were involved I do think there is a bit of a psychological effect people want to find unusual things 16 Data from the Planck Telescope published in 2013 has since found stronger evidence for the anisotropy 17 For a long time part of the community was hoping that this would go away but it hasn t says Dominik Schwarz of the University of Bielefeld in Germany 18 As of 2015 there is no consensus on the nature of this and other observed anomalies 19 and their statistical significance is unclear For example a study that includes the Planck mission results shows how masking techniques could introduce errors that when taken into account can render several anomalies including the axis of evil not statistically significant 20 A 2016 study compared isotropic and anisotropic cosmological models against WMAP and Planck data and found no evidence for anisotropy 21 In 2020 Lior Shamir of Kansas State University calculated that spin directions of spiral galaxies showed further evidence of unexpected large scale anisotropy 22 See also EditList of unsolved problems in physicsReferences Edit Anthony Challinor 2012 CMB anisotropy science A review Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 8 42 52 arXiv 1210 6008 Bibcode 2013IAUS 288 42C doi 10 1017 S1743921312016663 S2CID 41756934 CERN Courier Does the motion of the solar system affect the microwave sky C J Copi D Huterer D J Schwarz G D Starkman 2006 On the large angle anomalies of the microwave sky Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 367 1 79 102 arXiv astro ph 0508047 Bibcode 2006MNRAS 367 79C CiteSeerX 10 1 1 490 6391 doi 10 1111 j 1365 2966 2005 09980 x S2CID 6184966 preprint Sutter Paul 2017 07 29 The Cosmological Axis of Evil Space com The Energy of Empty Space That Isn t Zero www edge org 2006 05 07 Retrieved 2018 08 05 Mariano Antonio Perivolaropoulos Leandros 2013 CMB maximum temperature asymmetry axis Alignment with other cosmic asymmetries Physical Review D 87 4 043511 arXiv 1211 5915 Bibcode 2013PhRvD 87d3511M doi 10 1103 PhysRevD 87 043511 ISSN 1550 7998 S2CID 119258571 Land Kate Joao Magueijo Joao 2005 Examination of Evidence for a Preferred Axis in the Cosmic Radiation Anisotropy Physical Review Letters 95 7 071301 arXiv astro ph 0502237 Bibcode 2005PhRvL 95g1301L doi 10 1103 PhysRevLett 95 071301 PMID 16196772 S2CID 119473590 Liu Hao Li Ti Pei 2009 Improved CMB Map from WMAP Data arXiv 0907 2731v3 astro ph Sawangwit Utane Shanks Tom 2010 Lambda CDM and the WMAP Power Spectrum Beam Profile Sensitivity arXiv 1006 1270v1 astro ph Liu Hao et al 2010 Diagnosing Timing Error in WMAP Data Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 413 1 L96 L100 arXiv 1009 2701 Bibcode 2011MNRAS 413L 96L doi 10 1111 j 1745 3933 2011 01041 x S2CID 118739762 Zhang Pengjie Stebbins Albert 2011 Confirmation of the Copernican Principle at Gpc Radial Scale and above from the Kinetic Sunyaev Zel dovich Effect Power Spectrum Physical Review Letters 107 4 041301 arXiv 1009 3967 Bibcode 2011PhRvL 107d1301Z doi 10 1103 PhysRevLett 107 041301 ISSN 0031 9007 PMID 21866989 S2CID 17627683 Buckley Robert G Schlegel Eric M 2013 CMB dipoles and other low order multipoles in the quasispherical Szekeres model Physical Review D 87 2 023524 arXiv 1907 08684 Bibcode 2013PhRvD 87b3524B doi 10 1103 PhysRevD 87 023524 ISSN 1550 7998 S2CID 124552647 Hansen M Kim J Frejsel A M Ramazanov S Naselsky P Zhao W Burigana C 2012 Can residuals of the solar system foreground explain low multipole anomalies of the CMB Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2012 10 059 arXiv 1206 6981 Bibcode 2012JCAP 10 059H doi 10 1088 1475 7516 2012 10 059 ISSN 1475 7516 S2CID 118396636 Copi Craig J Huterer Dragan Schwarz Dominik J Starkman Glenn D 2010 Large angle anomalies in the CMB Advances in Astronomy 2010 847541 arXiv 1004 5602 Bibcode 2010AdAst2010E 92C doi 10 1155 2010 847541 ISSN 1687 7969 S2CID 13823900 Copi Craig J Huterer Dragan Schwarz Dominik J Starkman Glenn D 2007 01 08 The Uncorrelated Universe Statistical Anisotropy and the Vanishing Angular Correlation Function in WMAP Years 1 3 Physical Review D 75 2 023507 arXiv astro ph 0605135 Bibcode 2007PhRvD 75b3507C doi 10 1103 PhysRevD 75 023507 ISSN 1550 7998 S2CID 15702227 Found Hawking s initials written into the universe New Scientist 2010 02 07 Planck Collaboration 2013 Planck 2013 results XXIII Isotropy and statistics of the CMB Astronomy amp Astrophysics 571 27 A23 arXiv 1303 5083 Bibcode 2014A amp A 571A 23P doi 10 1051 0004 6361 201321534 S2CID 13037411 Michael Brooks Apr 30 2016 That s odd Axis of evil stretches across the cosmos New Scientist Santos L Cabella P Villela T Zhao W 2015 10 05 Influence of Planck foreground masks in the large angular scale quadrant CMB asymmetry Astronomy amp Astrophysics 584 A115 arXiv 1510 01009 Bibcode 2015A amp A 584A 115S doi 10 1051 0004 6361 201526713 ISSN 0004 6361 S2CID 119028545 Rassat A Starck J L Paykari P Sureau F Bobin J 2014 08 04 Planck CMB Anomalies Astrophysical and Cosmological Secondary Effects and the Curse of Masking Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2014 8 006 arXiv 1405 1844 Bibcode 2014JCAP 08 006R doi 10 1088 1475 7516 2014 08 006 ISSN 1475 7516 S2CID 119095714 Saadeh Daniela Feeney Stephen M Pontzen Andrew Peiris Hiranya V McEwen Jason D 2016 09 21 How isotropic is the Universe Physical Review Letters 117 13 131302 arXiv 1605 07178 Bibcode 2016PhRvL 117m1302S doi 10 1103 PhysRevLett 117 131302 ISSN 0031 9007 PMID 27715088 S2CID 453412 Shamir Lior August 2020 Patterns of galaxy spin directions in SDSS and Pan STARRS show parity violation and multipoles Astrophysics and Space Science 365 8 136 arXiv 2007 16116 Bibcode 2020Ap amp SS 365 136S doi 10 1007 s10509 020 03850 1 S2CID 220919897 Portals Stars Spaceflight Outer space Solar System Science Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Axis of evil cosmology amp oldid 1123205250, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
