Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background Temperature at high redshift by analysis of CO excitation

2015/12/02 by Alexander Sobolev, A. V. Ivanchik, Д. А. Варшалович +1 · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1742-6596/661/1/012013

openalex publication_date 2015/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

The linear relation between the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the cosmological redshift is a fundamental prediction of the standard hot Big Bang model. Measurements of the CMB temperature in the past can be done by means of observing radiative excitation of atomic and molecular species like C and CO. It can be detected in quasar spectra with z ∼ 2. We study excitation of CO rotational levels both by the CMB radiation and collisions. Corrections of determination of the CMB temperature due to collisional excitation by the analysis of CO molecule rotation level populations are proposed.

Discussions

• The temperature of the cosmic microwave background as a function of redshift, in different directions, can be measured using either the Sunyaev -Zeldovich effect where the CMB is inverse Compton-scatt [stackexchange, 5 points]

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