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They can therefore be used as natural cosmological plumb-lines.Because it is straightforward (at least for a physicist) to compute the wavelengths of the "sound" in the primeval fireball, astronomers believe they know the actual widths of the ripples in the CMB.
More importantly, he thinks that the pre-Big Bang past has left an imprint on the present that can be detected and analysed, and that he and a colleague in Armenia have found it.The imprint in question is in the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
Instead of looking at light from galaxies, it will study microwaves from the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
Unlike those, it makes predictions which can be tested experimentally, not now but perhaps in the near future for instance through detailed analysis of the CMB.
He and his colleagues have been analysing data on the CMB that were collected by WMAP, a satellite launched in 2001 by NASA, America's space agency.
These are ripples in the fabric of space, created, if the theory of inflation is correct, as the early universe was undergoing its post-creation growth spurt.A dusty trailSuch waves should have left a distinctive, polarised mark imprinted upon the CMB.
About 99% of all the photons in the universe are part of the CMB.
So cold spots on the CMB map correspond to the patches of the baby universe which gave rise to today's galaxies.Careful statistical analysis of the size of these patches, and differences in the average temperatures of larger swathes of the CMB which reflect the obstacles CMB photons encountered on their long journey, reveal a lot about the universe and its past.
Moreover, his theory does allow for a short period of rapid expansion, known as inflation, whose traces have already been seen in the CMB.
Over the years the Hong Kong transport authority has tried to goad China Motor Bus (CMB) to improve services by handing some routes to eager competitors.
