Phys. Rev. D 79, 123522 (2009) [5 pages]Relation between the isotropy of the CMB and the geometry of the universeReceived 24 March 2009; published 25 June 2009 The near isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is considered to be the strongest indication for the homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe, a cornerstone of most cosmological analysis. We derive new theorems which extend the Ehlers-Geren-Sachs result that an isotropic CMB implies that the Universe is either stationary or homogeneous and isotropic, and its generalization to the almost isotropic case. We discuss why the theorems do not apply to the real Universe, and why the CMB observations do not imply that the Universe would be nearly homogeneous and isotropic. © 2009 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.123522
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.79.123522
PACS:
98.80.Jk, 04.20.−q, 04.40.−b
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