Abstract
FLUCTUATIONS in the microwave background radiation are expected as a result of perturbations in the primaeval plasma from which large-scale structures such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies were formed. So far there are only upper limits to the observed values of such fluctuations, of roughly δT/T ≲ 10−3 (refs. 1–3 and Pariisky and Pyatynina at the Riga conference on radio astronomy, August 1968) on scales greater than about 3′. The background radiation at centimetre and millimetre wavelengths also contains contributions from unresolved discrete sources and diffuse matter. Here we compare the magnitudes of the temperature fluctuations δT/T expected as a result of “primaeval” perturbations with several other possible sources of fluctuations, particularly discrete radio sources. The latter are likely to be much more important than “primaeval” fluctuations on scales less than ∼3′ at all wavelengths.
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LONGAIR, M., SUNYAEV, R. Fluctuations in the Microwave Background Radiation. Nature 223, 719–721 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/223719a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/223719a0
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