2000/05/14 by A. Raghunathan, Raghunathan, A., R. Subrahmanyan +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamic Systems and Engines #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0005297
20 pages, includes 10 figures and 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
arxiv created 2000/05/14 · openalex publication_date 2000/05/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The absolute temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has been measured at a frequency of 1280 MHz. The observation was made with a modified version of the L-band receiver used in the Giant Metre wavelength Radio Telescope (GMRT): the feed horn was replaced by a corrugated plate and the receiver was placed on the ground, directed at zenith, and shielded from ground radiation by an aluminium screen with corrugated edges. Novel techniques have been adopted for (1) reducing and cancelling unwanted contributions to the system temperature of the receiver and (2) calibrating the contributions from the feed assembly and receiver. The thermodynamic temperature of the CMB is estimated to be 3.45 +/- 0.78 K.