The universe is egg shaped

[Blob]

Title: Ellipsoidal Universe Can Solve The CMB Quadrupole Problem
Authors: L. Campanelli, P. Cea, L. Tedesco

The recent three-year WMAP data have confirmed the anomaly concerning the low quadrupole amplitude compared to the best-fit Lambda CDM prediction. We show that, allowing the large-scale spatial geometry of our universe to be plane-symmetric with eccentricity at decoupling or order 10^-2, the quadrupole amplitude can be drastically reduced without affecting higher multipoles of the angular power spectrum of the temperature anisotropy.

Read more (212kb, PDF)

[NEOWatcher]

I got as far as "The recent three-year WMAP data have confirmed the anomaly concerning the "
Is there an English translation?

[Doodler]

I got as far as "The recent three-year WMAP data have confirmed the anomaly concerning the "
Is there an English translation?

In layman's English.

"We've figured out why we're getting asymmetrical readings along the major axis."

By the way, what is the plural form of "axis"?

[Swift]

BEDEVERE: And that, my lord, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped.
ARTHUR: This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes.
BEDEVERE: OF course, my Liege ...

[Blob]

While the WMAP measurements generally agree with a spherical model of the observable universe, the measurements taken on the largest scale reveal that the radiation is too low - The `CMB Quadrupole Problem`...
This low quadrupole amplitude anomaly however ties in with the best-fit Lambda-cold dark matter predictions, and can be explained by saying that the universe topology is squashed in one direction by about one per cent.

[01101001]

In layman's English.

"We've figured out why we're getting asymmetrical readings along the major axis."

By the way, what is the plural form of "axis"?

Don't axe me. Oh... axes.

But, the world wants to know: what kind of egg? Chicken? Shark? Human? Is it a symmetric one? A prolate ellipsoid?

[NEOWatcher]

"We've figured out why we're getting asymmetrical readings along the major axis."

So it is shape as opposed to interference, instrument quality, unknowns, etc.?

By the way, what is the plural form of "axis"?

Why aks me? My dictionary says "axes" but doesn't have a plural for "ax" or "axe".

[Cougar]

But, the world wants to know: what kind of egg? Chicken? Shark? Human? Is it a symmetric one? A prolate ellipsoid?

With an eccentricity of 1/100, the best fit appears to be a dinosaur egg.

[Blob]

Hum,
while some sauropods did lay roundish eggs, most dino eggs that i have seen are greatly squashed...

The best fit is a slightly oblate beachball, (er, a very big beach ball)...

[Squink]

This low quadrupole amplitude anomaly however ties in with the best-fit Lambda-cold dark matter predictions, and can be explained by saying that the universe topology is squashed in one direction by about one per cent.

Bowing to external pressure, is it?

[Blob]

Hum,
well it's all just a bit of a mystery, no one really knows what is causing the deformation in our local universe (observable universe). The deformation may be due to topology defects that were enlarged during the early inflationary phase, or it could just be the chance distribution of DM (locally or at cosmological distance) that is warping the measurements.
The deformation probably disappears if it were possible to look at a larger (very large) portion of the universe.

[Nowhere Man]

Hard-boiled, fried, or scrambled?

This corner of the universe is certainly addled...

Fred

[Blob]

Hum,
i found an easy to read article on how it could be cooked.

Campanelli's team speculates on what could have forced the universe out of spherical symmetry. A slight cosmic magnetic field — about a billionth as strong as Earth's — could do the job. Moreover, the scientists write, this is about the right strength "to account for the observed magnetic fields in galaxies and galaxy clusters."

Read more

[Doodler]

So it is shape as opposed to interference, instrument quality, unknowns, etc.?

Note I didn't specify shape, just that they'd figured out why it wasn't obviously the same in all directions.

Jargonese can be worse than Bureaucrapese at times, and I don't like overreaching my translations.

[Mister Earl]

Now what exactly is it that is being deformed, here? Space itself? Or the distribution of observeable matter?

[Cougar]

Man, they must have been in a hurry to get this publication out there. I do wish they would run such papers by a technical editor (such as myself ) beforehand. It's pretty embarrassing when you've got errors like the following:

At large scale, however, some anomalous features has been reported.

This results is generic regardless of the origin of eccentricity.

[Cougar]

Now what exactly is it that is being deformed, here?

The large-scale spatial geometry of our universe.

Hope this helps.

[Cougar]

...can be explained by saying that the universe topology is squashed in one direction by about one per cent.

Or more directly, the shape of the Surface of Last Scattering (which we observe as the CMB) is this slightly off-spherical ellipsoid. Basically, they're saying that this is one possible explanation for the anomalous reading. Raise your hand if you think it's probably something else.

[Blob]

Man, they must have been in a hurry to get this publication out there.

Hum,
this works is fairly old, The authors had posted version 1 of the paper in June ...

[punkrockbong151]

look. the universe has no definite shape, nor does it resemble one, it is expanding at different speeds at different parts, i am still by the way, still trying to beleive if if i beleive even in that, because part of me wants to say that the universe is and always has been infinite, msg me if u want to discuss

[Blob]

@punkrockbong151
Hum,
what were are talking about here is the `observable universe` or the `surface of last scattering` (as Cougar pointed out) which formed just 400,000 years after the big bang, and which now over 13 billion light-years away.

The measurements of the CBR are perhaps warped by something that is local or far away. (I assume for this post that the researchers have indeed measured the warping of space not resulting from something that just exists in our local bit of space or a error in measurement etc)

@Cougar
Tnx, Topology is assumed, but probably correct, but i guess there is no simple way to sample point between the CBR and us...So the CBR squashed `shell` is all that has been measured.