WMAP in the context of "Shape of the universe"

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⭐ Core Definition: WMAP

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), originally known as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP and Explorer 80), was a NASA spacecraft operating from 2001 to 2010 which measured temperature differences across the sky in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – the radiant heat remaining from the Big Bang. Headed by Professor Charles L. Bennett of Johns Hopkins University, the mission was developed in a joint partnership between the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Princeton University. The WMAP spacecraft was launched on 30 June 2001 from Florida. The WMAP mission succeeded the COBE space mission and was the second medium-class (MIDEX) spacecraft in the NASA Explorer program. In 2003, MAP was renamed WMAP in honor of cosmologist David Todd Wilkinson (1935–2002), who had been a member of the mission's science team. After nine years of operations, WMAP was switched off in 2010, following the launch of the more advanced Planck spacecraft by European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009.

WMAP's measurements played a key role in establishing the current Standard Model of Cosmology: the Lambda-CDM model. The WMAP data are very well fit by a universe that is dominated by dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant. Other cosmological data are also consistent, and together tightly constrain the Model. In the Lambda-CDM model of the universe, the age of the universe is 13.772±0.059 billion years. The WMAP mission's determination of the age of the universe is to better than 1% precision. The current expansion rate of the universe is (see Hubble constant) 69.32±0.80 km·s·Mpc. The content of the universe currently consists of 4.628%±0.093% ordinary baryonic matter; 24.02%+0.88%
−0.87% cold dark matter (CDM) that neither emits nor absorbs light; and 71.35%+0.95%
−0.96% of dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant that accelerates the expansion of the universe. Less than 1% of the current content of the universe is in neutrinos, but WMAP's measurements have found, for the first time in 2008, that the data prefer the existence of a cosmic neutrino background with an effective number of neutrino species of 3.26±0.35. The contents point to a Euclidean flat geometry, with curvature () of −0.0027+0.0039
−0.0038. The WMAP measurements also support the cosmic inflation paradigm in several ways, including the flatness measurement.

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WMAP in the context of Flat universe

In physical cosmology, the shape of the universe refers to both its local and global geometry. Local geometry is defined primarily by its curvature, while the global geometry is characterised by its topology (which itself is constrained by curvature). General relativity explains how spatial curvature (local geometry) is constrained by gravity. The global topology of the universe cannot be deduced from measurements of curvature inferred from observations within the family of homogeneous general relativistic models alone, due to the existence of locally indistinguishable spaces with varying global topological characteristics. For example; a multiply connected space like a 3 torus has everywhere zero curvature but is finite in extent, whereas a flat simply connected space is infinite in extent (such as Euclidean space).

Current observational evidence (WMAP, BOOMERanG, and Planck for example) imply that the observable universe is spatially flat to within a 0.4% margin of error of the curvature density parameter with an unknown global topology. It is currently unknown whether the universe is simply connected like euclidean space or multiply connected like a torus.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Flat universe ← Shape of the universe
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
NASA → Cosmic microwave background → Big Bang → Charles L. Bennett → Johns Hopkins University → Goddard Space Flight Center → Princeton University → Florida → Cosmic Background Explorer → Explorer program → David Todd Wilkinson → Planck (spacecraft) → European Space Agency → Lambda-CDM model → Dark energy → Cosmological constant → Age of the universe → Hubble's law → Baryonic → Cold dark matter → Accelerating expansion of the universe → Expansion of the universe → Cosmic neutrino background → Shape of the universe → Inflation (cosmology) →