text:
# First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Over the past century, a standard cosmological model has emerged: With relatively few parameters, the model describes the evolution of the Universe and astronomical observations on scales ranging from a few to thousands of Megaparsecs. In this model the Universe is spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic on large scales, composed of radiation, ordinary matter (electrons, protons, neutrons and neutrinos), non-baryonic cold dark matter, and dark energy. Galaxies and large-scale structure grew gravitationally from tiny, nearly scale-invariant adiabatic Gaussian fluctuations. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP ) data offer a demanding quantitative test of this model.

The WMAP data are powerful because they result from a mission that was carefully designed to limit systematic measurement errors (Bennett et al., 2003a, b; Hinshaw et al., 2003b). A critical element of this design includes differential measurements of the full sky with a complex sky scan pattern. The nearly uncorrelated noise between pairs of pixels, the accurate in-flight determination of the beam patterns (Page et al., 2003c, a; Barnes et al., 2003), and the well-understood properties of the radiometers (Jarosik et al., 2003a, b) are invaluable for this analysis.

Our basic approach in this analysis is to begin by identifying the simplest model that fits the WMAP data and determine the best fit parameters for this model using WMAP data only without the use of any significant priors on parameter values. We then compare the predictions of this model to other data sets and find that the model is basically consistent with these data sets. We then fit to combinations of the WMAP data and other astronomical data sets and find the best fit global model. Finally, we place constraints on alternatives to this model.

We begin by outlining our methodology (§2). Verde et al. (2003) describes the details of the approach used here to compare theoretical predictions of cosmological models to data. In §3, we fit a simple, six parameter $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model to the WMAP data-set (temperature-temperature and temperature-polarization angular power spectra). In §4 we show that this simple model provides an acceptable fit not only to the WMAP data, but also to a host of astronomical data. We use the comparison with these other datasets to test the validity of the model rather than further constrain the model parameters. In §5, we include large scale structure data from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS, Colless et al. (2001)) and Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest data to perform a joint likelihood analysis for the cosmological parameters. We find that the data favors a slowly varying spectral index. This seven parameter model is our best fit to the full data set. In §6, we relax some of the minimal assumptions of the model by adding extra parameters to the model. We examine non-flat models, dark energy models in which the properties of the dark energy are parameterized by an effective equation of state, and models with gravity waves. By adding extra parameters we introduce degenerate sets of models consistent with the WMAP data alone. We lift these degeneracies by including additional microwave background data-sets (CBI, ACBAR) and observations of large-scale structure. We use these combined data sets to place strong limits on the geometry of the universe, the neutrino mass, the energy density in gravity waves, and the properties of the dark energy. In §7, we note an intriguing discrepancy between the standard model and the WMAP data on the largest angular scales and speculate on its origin. In §8, we conclude and present parameters for our best fit model.

## 2 BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF COSMOLOGICAL DATA

The basic approach of this paper is to find the simplest model consistent with cosmological data. We begin by fitting a simple six parameter model first to the WMAP data and then to other cosmological data sets. We then consider more complex cosmological models and evaluate whether they are a better description of the cosmological data. Since Komatsu et al. (2003) found no evidence for non-Gaussianity in the WMAP data, we assume the primordial fluctuations are Gaussian random phase throughout this paper. For each model studied in the paper, we use a Monte Carlo Markov Chain to explore the likelihood surface. We assume flat priors in our basic parameters, impose positivity constraints on the matter and baryon density (these limits lie at such low likelihood that they are unimportant for the models. We assume a flat prior in $`\tau `$, the optical depth, but bound $`\tau <0.3`$. This prior has little effect on the fits but keeps the Markov Chain out of unphysical regions of parameter space. For each model, we determine the best fit parameters from the peak of the N-dimensional likelihood surface. For each parameter in the model we also compute its one dimensional likelihood function by marginalizing over all other parameters; we then quote the (1-dimensional) expectation value111In a Monte Carlo Markov Chain, it is a more robust quantity than the mode of the a posteriori marginalized distribution. as our best estimate for the parameter:

$$\alpha _i=d^N\alpha (\alpha )\alpha _i,$$
(1)
where $`\stackrel{}{\alpha }`$ denotes a point in the N-dimensional parameter space (in our application these are points –sets of cosmological parameters– in the output of the Markov Chain), $``$ denotes the likelihood (in our application the “weight” given by the chain to each point). The WMAP temperature (TT) angular power spectrum and the WMAP temperature-polarization (TE) angular power spectrum are our core data sets for the likelihood analysis. Hinshaw et al. (2003b) and Kogut et al. (2003) describe how to obtain the temperature and temperature-polarization angular power spectra respectively from the maps. Verde et al. (2003) describes our basic methodology for evaluating the likelihood functions using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm and for including data-sets other than WMAP in our analysis. In addition to WMAP data we use recent results from the CBI (Pearson et al., 2002) and ACBAR (Kuo et al., 2002) experiments. We also use the 2dFGRS measurements of the power spectrum (Percival et al., 2001) and the bias parameter (Verde et al., 2002), measurements of the Lyman $`\alpha `$ power spectrum (Croft et al., 2002; Gnedin & Hamilton, 2002), supernova Ia measurements of the angular diameter distance relation (Garnavich et al., 1998; Riess et al., 2001), and the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project measurements of the local expansion rate of the universe (Freedman et al., 2001).

## 3 POWER LAW $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM MODEL AND THE WMAP DATA

We begin by considering a basic cosmological model: a flat Universe with radiation, baryons, cold dark matter and cosmological constant, and a power-law power spectrum of adiabatic primordial fluctuations. As we will see, this model does a remarkably good job of describing WMAP TT and TE power spectra with only six parameters: the Hubble constant $`h`$ (in units of 100 km/s/Mpc), the physical matter and baryon densities $`w_m\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2`$ and $`w_b\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$, the optical depth to the decoupling surface, $`\tau `$, the scalar spectral index $`n_s`$ and $`A`$, the normalization parameter in the CMBFAST code version 4.1 with option UNNORM. Verde et al. (2003) discusses the relationship between $`A`$ and the amplitude of curvature fluctuations at horizon crossing, $`|\mathrm{\Delta }R|^2=2.95\times 10^9A`$. In §4, we show that this model is also in acceptable agreement with a wide range of astronomical data.

This simple model provides an acceptable fit to both the WMAP TT and TE data (see Figure 1 and 2). The reduced222Here, $`\chi _{eff}^22\mathrm{ln}`$ and $`\nu `$ is number of data minus the number of parameters. We have used 100,000 Monte Carlo realization of the WMAP data with our mask, noise and angle-averaged beams and found that the $`2\mathrm{ln}/\nu =1`$ for the simulated temperature data. $`\chi _{eff}^2`$ for the full fit is 1.066 for 1342 degrees of freedom, which has a probability of $`5`$%. For the TT data alone, $`\chi _{eff}^2/\nu =1.09`$, which for 893 degrees of freedom has a probability of 3%. Most of the excess $`\chi _{eff}^2`$ is due to the inability of the model to fit sharp features in the power spectrum near $`l120`$, the first TT peak and at $`l350`$. In Figure 4 we show the contribution to $`\chi _{eff}^2`$ per multipole. The overall excess variance is likely due to our not including several effects, each contributing roughly $`0.51\%`$ to our power spectrum covariance near the first peak and trough: gravitational lensing of the CMB (Hu, 2001), the spatial variations in the effective beam of the WMAP experiment due to variations in our scan orientation between the ecliptic pole and plane regions (Page et al., 2003a; Hinshaw et al., 2003a), and non-Gaussianity in the noise maps due to the $`1/f`$ striping. Including these effects would increase our estimate of the power spectrum uncertainties and improve our estimate of $`\chi _{eff}^2`$. Our next data release will include the corrections and errors associated with the beam asymmetries. The features in the measured power spectrum could be due to underlying features in the primordial power spectrum (see §5 of Peiris et al. (2003)), but we do not yet attach cosmological significance to them.

Table 1 lists the best fit parameters using the WMAP data alone for this model and Figure (3) shows the marginalized probabilities for each of the basic parameters in the model. The values in the second column of Table 1 (and the subsequent parameter tables) are expectation values for the marginalized distribution of each parameter and the errors are the 68% confidence interval. The values in the third column are the values at the peak of the likelihood function. Since we are projecting a high dimensional likelihood function, the peak of the likelihood is not the same as the expectation value of a parameter. Most of the basic parameters are remarkably well determined within the context of this model. Our most significant parameter degeneracy (see Figure 5) is a degeneracy between $`n_s`$ and $`\tau `$. The TE data favors $`\tau 0.17`$ (Kogut et al., 2003); on the other hand, the low value of the quadrupole (see Figure 1 and §7) and the relatively low amplitude of fluctuations for $`l<10`$ disfavors high $`\tau `$ as reionization produces additional large scale anisotropies. Because of the combination of these two effects, the likelihood surface is quite flat at its peak: the likelihood changes by only $`0.05`$ as $`\tau `$ changes from $`0.110.19`$. This particular shape depends upon the assumed form of the power spectrum: in §5.2, we show that models with a scale-dependent spectral index have a narrower likelihood function that is more centered around $`\tau =0.17`$.

Since the WMAP data allows us to accurately determine many of the basic cosmological parameters, we can now infer a number of important derived quantities to very high accuracy; we do this by computing these quantities for each model in the MCMC and use the chain to determine their expectation values and uncertainties.

Table 2 lists cosmological parameters based on fitting a power law (PL) CDM model to the WMAP data only. The parameters $`t_{dec}`$ and $`z_{dec}`$ are determined by using the CMBFAST code (Seljak & Zaldarriaga, 1996) to compute the redshift of the CMB “photosphere” (the peak in the photon visibility function). We determine the thickness of the decoupling surface by measuring $`\mathrm{\Delta }z_{dec}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{dec}`$, the full-width at half maximum of the visibility function. The age of the Universe is derived by integrating the Friedmann equation, and $`\sigma _8`$ (the linear theory predictions for the amplitude of fluctuations within 8 Mpc/h spheres) from the linear matter power spectrum at $`z=0`$ is computed by CMBFAST.

## 4 COMPARSION WITH ASTRONOMICAL PREDICTIONS

In this section, we compare the predictions of the best fit power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model to other cosmological observations. We also list in Table 10 the best fit model to the full data set: a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model with a running spectral index (see §5.2). In particular we consider determinations of the local expansion rate (i.e. the Hubble constant), the amplitude of fluctuations on galaxy scales, the baryon abundance, ages of the oldest stars, large scale structure data and supernova Ia data. We also consider if our determination of the reionization redshift is consistent with the prediction for structure formation in our best fit Universe and with recent models of reionization. In §5 and 6, we add some of these data sets to the WMAP data to better constrain parameters and cosmological models.

### 4.1 Hubble Constant

CMB observations do not directly measure the local expansion rate of the Universe rather they measure the conformal distance to the decoupling surface and the matter-radiation ratio through the amplitude of the early Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) contribution relative to the height of the first peak. For our power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model, this is enough information to “predict” the local expansion rate. Thus, local Hubble constant measurements are an important test of our basic model.

The Hubble Key Project (Freedman et al., 2001) has carried out an extensive program of using Cepheids to calibrate several different secondary distance indicators (Type Ia supernovae, Tully-Fisher, Type II supernovae, and surface brightness fluctuations). With a distance modulus of $`18.5`$ for the LMC, their combined estimate for the Hubble constant is $`H_0=72\pm 3(\mathrm{stat}.)\pm 7(\mathrm{systematic})`$ km/s/Mpc. The agreement between the HST Key Project value and our value, $`h=0.72\pm 0.05`$, is striking, given that the two methods rely on different observables, different underlying physics, and different model assumptions.

As we will show in §6, models with equation of state for the dark energy very different from a cosmological constant (i.e., $`w=1`$) only fit the WMAP data if the Hubble constant is much smaller than the Hubble Key Project value. An independent determination of the Hubble constant that makes different assumptions than the traditional distance ladder can be obtained by combining Sunyaev-Zel’dovich and X-ray flux measurements of clusters of galaxies, under the assumption of sphericity for the density and temperature profile of clusters. This method is sensitive to the Hubble constant at intermediate redshifts ($`z0.5`$), rather than in the nearby universe. Reese et al. (2002), Jones et al. (2001), and Mason et al. (2001) have obtained values for the Hubble constant systematically smaller than, the Hubble Key Project and WMAP $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model determinations, but all consistent at the $`1\sigma `$ level. Table (3) summarizes recent Hubble constant determinations and compares them with the WMAP $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model value.

### 4.2 Amplitude of Fluctuations

The overall amplitude of fluctuations on large-scale structure scales has been recently determined from weak lensing surveys, clusters number counts and peculiar velocities from galaxy surveys. Weak lensing surveys and peculiar velocity measurements are most sensitive to the combination $`\sigma _8\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.6}`$, cluster abundance at low redshift is sensitive to a very similar parameter combination $`\sigma _8\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}`$, but counts of high redshift clusters can break the degeneracy.

#### 4.2.1 Weak Lensing

Weak lensing directly probes the amplitude of mass fluctuations along the line of sight to the background galaxies. Once the redshift distribution of the background galaxies is known, this technique directly probes gravitational potential fluctuations, and therefore can be easily compared with our CMB model predictions for the amplitude of dark matter fluctuations. Several groups have reported weak shear measurements within the past year (see Table 4 and Van Waerbeke et al. (2002a) for recent review): while there is significant scatter in the reported amplitude, the best fit model to the WMAP data lies in the middle of the reported range. As these shear measurements continue to improve, the combination of WMAP observations and lensing measurements will be a powerful probe of cosmological models.

#### 4.2.2 Galaxy velocity fields

The galaxy velocity fields are another important probe of the large scale distribution of matter. The Willick & Strauss (1998) analysis of the Mark III velocity fields and the IRAS redshift survey yields $`\beta ^{IRAS}=0.50\pm 0.04`$. IRAS galaxies are less clustered than optically selected galaxies; Fisher et al. (1994) find $`\sigma _8^{IRAS}=0.69\pm 0.04`$ implying $`\sigma _8^{mass}\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.6}=0.345\pm 0.05`$, consistent with our $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model value of $`0.44\pm 0.10`$.

#### 4.2.3 Cluster Number Counts

Our best fit to the WMAP data is $`\sigma _8\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}=0.48\pm 0.12`$. Bahcall et al. (2002b) recent study of the mass function of 300 clusters at redshifts $`0.1<z<0.2`$ in the early SDSS data release yields $`\sigma _8\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}=0.33\pm 0.03`$. This difference may reflect the sensitivity of the cluster measurements to the conversion of cluster richness to mass. Observations of the mass function of high redshift clusters break the degeneracy between $`\sigma _8`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$. The recent Bahcall & Bode (2002) analysis of the abundance of massive clusters at $`z=0.50.8`$ yields $`\sigma _8=0.95\pm 0.1`$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.25`$. Other cluster analysis yield different values: Borgani et al. (2001) best fit values for a large sample of X-ray clusters are $`\sigma _8=0.66_{0.05}^{+0.05}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.35_{0.10}^{+0.13}`$. On the other hand, Reiprich & Böhringer (2002) find very different values: $`\sigma _8=0.96_{0.12}^{+0.15}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.12_{0.04}^{+0.06}`$. Pierpaoli et al. (2002) discuss the wide range of values that different X-ray analyses find for $`\sigma _8`$. With the larger REFLEX sample, Schuecker et al. (2003a) find $`\sigma _8=0.711_{0.031}^{+0.039}_{0.162}^{+0.120}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.341_{0.029}^{+0.031}_{0.071}^{+0.087}`$, where the second set of errors include the systematic uncertainties. The best fit WMAP values lie in the middle of the relevant range.

Measurements of the contribution to the CMB power spectrum on small scales from the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect also probe the number density of high redshift clusters. The recent CBI detection of excess fluctuations (Mason et al., 2001; Bond et al., 2002) at $`\mathrm{}>1500`$ implies $`\sigma _8=1.04\pm 0.12`$ (Komatsu & Seljak, 2002), if the signal is due to the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect.

### 4.3 Baryon Abundance

Both the amplitude of the acoustic peaks in the CMB spectrum (Bond & Efstathiou, 1984) and the primordial abundance of Deuterium (Boesgaard & Steigman, 1985) are sensitive functions of the cosmological baryon density. Since the height and position of the acoustic peaks depend upon the properties of the cosmic plasma 372,000 years after the Big Bang and the Deuterium abundance depends on physics only three minutes after the Big Bang, comparing the baryon density constraints inferred from these two different probes provides an important test of the Big Bang model. The best fit baryon abundance based on WMAP data only for the PL LCDM model, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.024\pm 0.001`$, implies a baryon/photon ratio of $`\eta =(6.5_{0.3}^{+0.4})\times 10^{10}\text{ }`$. For this abundance, standard big bang nucleosynthesis (Burles et al., 2001) implies a primordial Deuterium abundance relative to Hydrogen: \[D\]/\[H\] $`=2.37_{0.21}^{+0.19}\times 10^5`$. As it will be clear from §5 and 6, the best fit $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$ value for our fits is relatively insensitive to cosmological model and data set combination as it depends primarily on the ratio of the first to second peak heights (Page et al., 2003b). For the running spectral index model discussed in §5.2, the best fit baryon abundance, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.0224\pm 0.0009`$, implies a primordial \[D\]/\[H\] $`=2.62_{0.20}^{+0.18}\times 10^5`$.

How does the primordial Deuterium abundance inferred from CMB compare with that observed from the ISM? Galactic chemical evolution destroys Deuterium because the Deuterium nucleus is relatively fragile and is easily destroyed in stars. Thus, measurements of the Deuterium abundance within the Galaxy are usually treated as lower limits on the primordial abundance (Epstein et al., 1976). Local measurements of D and H absorption find \[D/H\] abundance near $`1.5\times 10^5`$, while more distant measurements by IMAP and FUSE find significant variation in Deuterium abundances suggesting a complex Galactic chemical history (Jenkins et al., 1999; Sonneborn et al., 2000; Moos et al., 2002).

Observations of Lyman $`\alpha `$ clouds reduce the need to correct the Deuterium abundance for stellar processing as these systems have low (but non-zero) metal abundances. These observations require identifying gas systems that do not have serious interference from the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest. The Kirkman et al. (2003) analysis of QSO HS 243+3057 yields a D/H ratio of $`2.42_{0.25}^{+0.35}\times 10^5`$. They combine this measurement with four other D/H measurements (Q0130-4021: D/H$`<6.8\times 10^5`$, Q1009+2956: $`3.98\pm 0.70\times 10^5`$, PKS 1937-1009: $`3.25\pm 0.28\times 10^5`$, and QSO HS0105+1619: $`2.5\pm 0.25\times 10^5`$), to obtain their current best D/H ratio: $`2.78_{0.38}^{+0.44}\times 10^5`$ implying $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.0214\pm 0.0020`$. D’Odorico et al. (2001) find $`2.24\pm 0.67\times 10^5`$ from their observations of Q0347-3819 (although a reanalysis of the system by Levshakov et al. (2003) finds a higher D/H value: $`3.75\pm 0.25`$. Pettini & Bowen (2001) report a D/H abundance of $`1.65\pm 0.35\times 10^5`$ from STIS measurements of QSO 2206-199, a low metallicity ($`Z1/200`$) Damped Lyman $`\alpha `$ system. The WMAP value lies between the Pettini & Bowen (2001) estimate from DLAs, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.025\pm 0.001`$, and the Kirkman et al. (2003) estimate of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.0214\pm 0.0020`$ The remarkable agreement between the baryon density inferred from D/H values and our measurements is an important triumph for the basic Big Bang model.

### 4.4 Cosmic Ages

The age of the Universe based on the best fit to WMAP data only, $`t_0=13.4\pm 0.3\text{ Gyr}`$. However, the addition of other data sets (see §5) implies a lower matter density and a slightly larger age. The best fit age for the power law model based on a combination of WMAP , 2dFGRSand Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest data is $`t_0=13.6\pm 0.2\text{Gyr}`$. The best fit age for the same data set for the running index model of §5.2 is $`t_0=13.7\pm 0.2\text{Gyr}`$. (See Hu et al. 2001 Hu, Fukugita, Zaldarriaga, Tegmark  and Knox, Christensen & Skordis (2001) for discussions of using CMB data to determine cosmological ages.)

A lower limit to the age of the universe can independently be obtained from dating the oldest stellar populations. This has been done traditionally by dating the oldest stars in the Milky Way (see e.g., Chaboyer (1998); Jimenez (1999)). For this program, globular clusters are an excellent laboratory for constraining the age of the universe: each cluster has a chemically homogeneous population of stars all born nearly simultaneously. The main uncertainty in the age determination comes from the poorly known distance (Chaboyer, 1995). Well-understood stellar populations are useful tools for constraining cluster distances: Renzini et al. (1996) used the white dwarf sequence to obtain an age of $`14.5\pm 1.5`$ Gyr for NGC 6752. Jimenez et al. (1996). using a distance-independent method determined the age of the oldest globular clusters to be $`13.5\pm 2`$ Gyr. Using the luminosity function method, Jimenez & Padoan (1998) found an age of $`12.5\pm 1.0`$ Gyr for M55. This method gives a joint constraint on the distance and the age of the globular cluster. Other groups find consistent ages: Gratton et al. (1997) estimate an age of 11.8$`{}_{2.5}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+2.1}`$ Gyr for the oldest Galactic globulars; VandenBerg et al. (2002) estimates an age of $`13.5`$ Gyr for M92. Chaboyer & Krauss (2003) review the globular cluster analysis and quote a best fit age of 13.4 Gyr.

Observations of eclipsing double line spectroscopic binaries enable globular cluster age determinations that avoid the considerable uncertainty associated with the globular cluster distance scale (Paczynski, 1997). Thompson et al. (2001) were able to obtain a high precision mass estimate for the detached double line spectroscopic binary, OGLEGC-17 in $`\omega `$Cen. Using the age/turnoff mass relationship, the Kaluzny et al. (2002) analysis of this system yielded an age for this binary of $`11.8\pm 0.6`$ Gyr. Chaboyer & Krauss (2002) re-analysis of the age/turnoff mass relationship for this system yields a similar age estimate: $`11.1\pm 0.67`$ Gyr. The WMAP determination of the age of the universe implies that globular clusters form within 2 Gyr after the Big Bang, a reasonable estimate that is consistent with structure formation in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology. White dwarf dating provides an alternative approach to the traditional studies of the main sequence turn-off. Richer et al. (2002) and Hansen et al. (2002) find an age for the globular cluster M4 of $`12.7\pm 0.7`$ Gyrs (2 $`\sigma `$ errors, $`\pm 0.35`$ at the 1 $`\sigma `$ level assuming Gaussian errors) using the white dwarfs cooling sequence method. These results, which yield an age close to the cosmological age, are potentially very useful: further tests of the assumptions of the white dwarf age dating method will clarify its systematic uncertainties.

Observations of nearby halo stars enable astronomers to obtain spectra of various radio-isotopes. By measuring isotopic ratios, they infer stellar ages that are independent of much of the physics that determines main sequence turn-off (see Thielemann et al. (2002) for a recent review). These studies yield stellar ages consistent with both the globular cluster ages and the ages in our best fit models. Clayton (1988) using a range of chemical evolution models for the Galaxy finds ages between 12 - 20 Gyr. Schatz et al. (2002) study Thorium and Uranium in CS 31082-001 and estimate an age of $`15.5\pm 3.2`$ Gyr for the r-process elements in the star. Other groups find similar estimates: the Cayrel et al. (2001) analysis of U-238 in the old halo star CS 31082-001 yields an age of $`12.5\pm 3`$ Gyr, while Hill et al. (2002) find an age of $`14.0\pm 2.4`$ Gyr. Studies of other old halo stars yield similar estimates: Cowan et al. (1999) two stars CS 22892-052 and HD115444 find $`15.6\pm 4.6`$ Gyr.

Table 6 summarizes the lower limits on the age of the universe from various astronomical measurements. While the errors on these measurements remain too large to effectively constrain parameters, they provide an important consistency check on our basic cosmological model.

### 4.5 Large Scale Structure

The large scale structure observations and the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest data complement the CMB measurements by measuring similar physical scales at very different epochs. The WMAP angular power spectrum has the smallest uncertainties near $`\mathrm{}300`$, which correspond to wavenumbers $`k0.02`$ Mpc-1. With the ACBAR results, our CMB data set extends to $`\mathrm{}1800`$, corresponding to $`k0.1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. If we assume that gravity is the primary force determining the large-scale distribution of matter and that galaxies trace mass at least on large scales, then we can directly compare our best fit $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ CDM model (with parameters fit to the WMAP data) to observations of large scale distribution of galaxies. There are currently two major ongoing large scale structure surveys: the Anglo-Australian Telescope two degree field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) (Colless et al., 2001), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey333www.sdss.org (SDSS). Large scale structure data sets are a powerful tool for breaking many of the parameter degeneracies associated with CMB data. In §5, we make extensive use of the 2dFGRS data set.

Figure 6 shows that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model obtained from the WMAP data alone is an acceptable fit to the 2dFGRS power spectrum. The best fit has $`\beta =0.45`$ consistent with Peacock et al. (2001) measured value of $`\beta =0.43\pm 0.07`$.

The Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest observations are an important complement to CMB observations since they probe the linear matter power spectrum at $`z=23`$ (Croft et al., 1998, 2002). These observations are sensitive to small length scales, inaccessible to CMB experiments. Unfortunately, the relationship between the measured flux power spectrum and the linear power spectrum is complex (Gnedin & Hamilton, 2002; Croft et al., 2002) and needs to be calibrated by numerical simulations. In Verde et al. (2003), we describe our methodology for incorporating the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest data into our likelihood approach. Figure 6 compares the predicted power spectra for the best fit $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model to the linear power spectra inferred by Gnedin & Hamilton (2002) and by Croft et al. (2002).

### 4.6 Supernova Data

Over the past decade, Type Ia supernovae have emerged as important cosmological probes. Once supernova light curves have been corrected using the correlation between decline rate and luminosity (Phillips, 1993; Riess et al., 1995) they appear to be remarkably good standard candles. Systematic studies by the supernova cosmology project (Perlmutter et al., 1999) and by the high $`z`$ supernova search team (Riess et al., 1998) provide evidence for an accelerating universe. The combination of the large scale structure, CMB and supernova data provide strong evidence for a flat universe dominated by a cosmological constant (Bahcall et al., 1999). Since the supernova data probes the luminosity distance versus redshift relationship at moderate redshift $`z<2`$ and the CMB data probes the angular diameter distance relationship to high redshift ($`z1089`$) , the two data sets are complementary. The supernova constraint on cosmological parameters are consistent with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM WMAP model. As we will see in the discussion of non-flat models and quintessence models, the SNIa likelihood surface in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mw`$ planes provides useful additional constraints on cosmological parameters.

### 4.7 Reionization & Small Scale Power

The WMAP detection of reionization (Kogut et al., 2003) implies the existence of an early generation of stars able to reionize the Universe at $`z20`$. Is this early star formation compatible with our best fit $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmological model? We can evaluate this effect by first computing the fraction of collapsed objects, $`f_{DM}`$, at a given redshift:

$$f_{DM}(z)=\frac{1}{\rho _0}_{M_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Phi }(M,z)M𝑑M,$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }(M,z)`$ is the Sheth & Tormen (1999) mass function. The first stars correspond to extremely rare fluctuations of the overdensity field: Eq. (2) is very sensitive to the tail of the mass function. Thus the very small change in the minimum mass needed for star formation results in a significant change in the fraction of collapsed objects. The minimum halo mass for star formation, $`M_{min}`$, is controversial and depends on whether molecular hydrogen (H2) is available as a coolant. If the gas temperature is fixed to the CMB temperature, then the Jean Mass, $`M^j=10^6M_{}`$. If molecular hydrogen is available, then the Jeans mass before reionization is $`M^j^{}2.2\times 10^3[\omega _b/h(\omega _m)]^{1.5}(1+z)/10`$ for $`z<150`$ (Venkatesan et al., 2001). At $`z>150`$, the electrons are thermally coupled to the CMB photons. However, as Haiman et al. (1997) point out, a small UV background generated by the first sources will dissociate $`H_2`$, thus making the minimum mass much larger than the Jeans mass. They suggest using a minimum mass that is much higher: $`M_{min}^{HRL}(z)=10^8(1+z)/10)^{3/2}`$. On the other hand if the first stars generated a significant flux of X-rays (Oh, 2001) then this would have promoted molecular hydrogen formation (Haiman et al., 2000; Venkatesan et al., 2001; Cen, 2002). Thus lowering the minimum mass back to $`M^j`$.

Following Tegmark & Silk (1995) we estimate the rate of reionization by multiplying the collapse factor by an efficiency factor. A fraction of baryons in the universe, $`f_b`$, falls into the non-linear structures. We assume $`f_b=f_{DM}`$ (i.e., constant baryon/dark matter ratio). A certain fraction of these baryons form stars or quasars, $`f_{burn}`$, which emit UV radiation with some efficiency, $`f_{UV}`$. Some of this radiation escapes into the intergalactic medium photoionizing it; however, the net number of ionizations per UV photons, $`f_{ion}`$, is expected to be less than unity (due to cooling and recombinations). Finally the intergalactic medium might be clumpy, making the photoionization process less efficient. This effect is counted for by the clumping factor $`C_{clump}`$. Thus in this approximation the ionization fraction is given by: $`x_e=3.8\times 10^5f_{net}f_b`$ where $`f_{net}=f_{burn}f_{UV}f_{esc}f_{ion}/C_{clump}`$. The factor $`3.8\times 10^5`$ arises because $`7.3\times 10^3`$ of the rest mass is released in the burning of hydrogen to helium and we assume the primordial helium mass fraction to be 24%. We assume $`f_{burn}25\%`$, $`f_{esc}50\%`$, $`f_{UV}50\%`$, $`f_{ion}90\%`$, and $`1C_{clump}100`$, thus $`f_{net}5.6\times 10^3`$.

Figure 7 shows the fraction of collapsed objects and the maximum ionization fraction as a function of redshift for our best fit WMAP $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model. The solid lines correspond to $`M_{min}=M_{min}^{HRL}(z)`$ while the dashed lines correspond to $`M_{min}=M^j`$. The WMAP detection of reionization at high redshift suggests that $`H_2`$ cooling likely played an important role in early star formation.

Because early reionization requires the existence of small scale fluctuations, the WMAP TE detection has important implications for our understanding of the nature of the dark matter. Barkana et al. (2001) note that the detection of reionization at $`z>10`$ rules out warm dark matter as a viable candidate for the missing mass as structure forms very late in these models. Warm dark matter can not cluster on scales smaller than the dark matter Jeans’ mass. Thus, this limit applies regardless of whether the minimum mass is $`M^{HRL}`$ or $`M^j`$.

## 5 COMBINING DATA SETS

In this section, we combine the WMAP data with other CMB experiments that probe smaller angular scales (ACBAR and CBI) 444In the following sections, we refer to the combined WMAP , ACBAR and CBI data sets as WMAPext. and with astronomical measurements of the power spectrum (the 2dFGRS and Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest). We begin by exploring how including these data sets affects our best fit power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model parameters (§5.1). The addition of data sets that probe smaller scales systematically pulls down the amplitude of the fluctuations in the best fit model. This motivates our exploration of an extension of the power law model, a model where the primordial power spectrum of scalar density fluctuations is fit by a running spectral index (Kosowsky & Turner, 1995):

$$P(k)=P(k_0)\left(\frac{k}{k_0}\right)^{n_s(k_0)+(1/2)dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k\mathrm{ln}(k/k_0)},$$
(3)
where we fix the scalar spectral index and slope at $`k_0=0.05`$Mpc-1. Note that this definition of the running index matches the definition used in Hannestad et al. (2002) analysis of running spectral index models and differs by a factor of 2 from the Kosowsky & Turner (1995) definition. As in the scale independent case, we define

$$n_s(k)=\frac{d\mathrm{ln}P}{d\mathrm{ln}k}.$$
(4)
We explicitly assume that $`d^2n_s/dlnk^2=0`$, so that

$$n_s(k)=n_s(k_0)+\frac{dn_s}{d\mathrm{ln}k}\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{k}{k_0}\right).$$
(5)
In §5.2, we show that the running spectral index model is a better fit than the pure power law model to the combination of WMAP and other data sets. Peiris et al. (2003) explores the implications of this running spectral index for inflation.

### 5.1 Power Law CDM Model

The power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model is an acceptable fit to the WMAP data. While it overpredicts the amplitude of fluctuations on large angular scales (see §6), this deviation may be due to cosmic variance at these large scales. Intriguingly, it also overpredicts the amplitude of fluctuations on small angular scales.

Table (7) shows the best fit parameters for the power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model for different combination of data sets. As we add more and more data on smaller scales, the best fit value for the amplitude of fluctuations at $`k=0.05`$ Mpc-1 gradually drops: When we fit to the WMAP data alone, the best fit is $`0.9\pm 0.1`$. When we add the CBI, ACBAR and 2dFGRS data, the best fit value drops to $`0.8\pm 0.1`$. Adding the Lyman $`\alpha `$ data further reduces $`A`$ to $`0.75_{0.07}^{+0.08}`$. The best fit spectral index shows a similar trend: the addition of more and more small scale data drives the best fit spectral index to also change by nearly 1 $`\sigma `$ from its best fit value for WMAP data only: $`0.99\pm 0.04`$ (WMAP only) to $`0.96\pm 0.02`$ (WMAPext+2dFGRS+Ly$`\alpha `$). When the addition of new data continuously pulls a model away from its best fit value, this is often the signature of the model requiring a new parameter.

### 5.2 Running Spectral Index $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM Model

Inflationary models predict that the spectral index of fluctuations should be a slowly varying function of scale. Peiris et al. (2003) discusses the inflationary predictions and shows that a plausible set of models predicts a detectable varying spectral index. There are classes of inflationary models that predict minimal tensor modes. This section explores this class of models. In §6.4, we explore a more general model that has both a running spectral index and tensor modes.

Table 8 shows the best fit parameters for the running (RUN) spectral index model as a function of data set. Note that the best fit parameters for these models barely change as we add new data sets; however, the error bars shrink. When we include all data sets, the best fit value of the running of the spectral index is $`0.031_{0.017}^{+0.016}`$: fewer than 5% of the models have $`dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k>0`$.

Figure 9 shows the the power spectrum as a function of scale. The figure shows the results of our Markov chain analysis of the combination of WMAP , CBI, ACBAR, 2dFGRS and Lyman $`\alpha `$ data. At each wavenumber, we compute the range of values for the power law index for all of the points in the Markov chain. The 68% and 95% contours at each $`k`$ value are shown in Figure 9 for the fit to the WMAPext+2dFGRS + Lyman $`\alpha `$ data sets.

Over the coming year, new data will significantly improve our ability to measure (or constrain) this running spectral index. When we complete our analysis of the EE power spectrum, the WMAP data will place stronger constraints on $`\tau `$. Because of the $`n_s\tau `$ degeneracy, this implies a strong constraint on $`n_s`$ on large scales. The SDSS collaboration will soon release its galaxy spectrum and its measurements of the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest. These observations will significantly improve our measurements of $`n_s`$ on small scales. Peiris et al. (2003) shows that the detection of a running spectral index and particularly the detection of a spectral index that varies from $`n_s>1`$ on large scales to $`n_s<1`$ on small scales would severely constrain inflationary models.

The running spectral index model predicts a significantly lower amplitude of fluctuations on small scales than the standard $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model (see figure 9). This suppression of small scale power has several important astronomical implications: (a) the reduction in small scale power makes it more difficult to reionize the universe unless $`H_2`$ cooling enables mass dark halos to collapse and form galaxies (see §4.7 and Figure 10); (b) a reduction in the small scale power reduces the amount of substructure within galactic halos (Zentner & Bullock, 2002) (c) since small objects form later, their dark matter halos will be less concentrated as there is a monotonic relationship between collapse time and halo central concentration (Navarro et al., 1997; Eke et al., 2001; Zentner & Bullock, 2002; Wechsler et al., 2002; Huffenberger & Seljak, 2003). The reduction in the amount of substructure will also reduce angular momentum transport between dark matter and baryons and will also reduce the rate of disk destruction through infall (Toth & Ostriker, 1992). We suspect that our proposed modification of the primordial power spectrum will resolve many of the long-standing problems of the CDM model on small scales (see Moore (1994) and Spergel & Steinhardt (2000) for discussions of the failings of the power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ CDM model on galaxy scales).

## 6 BEYOND THE $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM MODEL

In this section, we consider various extensions to the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model. In §6.1, we consider dark energy models with a constant equation of state. In §6.2, we consider non-flat models. In §6.3, we consider models with a massive light neutrino. In §6.4, we include tensor modes.

In this section of the paper, we combine the WMAP data with external data sets so that we can break degeneracies and obtain significant constraints on the various extensions of our standard cosmological model.

### 6.1 Dark Energy

The properties of the dark energy, the dominant component in our universe today, is a mystery. The most popular alternative to the cosmological constant is quintessence. Wetterich (1988), Ratra & Peebles (1988) and Peebles & Ratra (1988) suggest that a rolling scalar field could produce a time-variable dark energy term, which leave a characteristic imprint on the CMB and on large scale structure (Caldwell et al., 1998). In these quintessence models, the dark energy properties are quantified by the equation of state of the dark energy: $`w=p/\rho `$, where $`p`$ and $`\rho `$ are the pressure and the density of the dark energy. A cosmological constant has an equation of state, $`w=1`$.

Since the space of possible models is quite large, we only consider models with a constant equation of state. We now increase our model space so that we have 7 parameters in the cosmological model ($`A,n_s,h,\mathrm{\Omega }_m,\mathrm{\Omega }_b,\tau `$ and $`w`$). We analyze the data using two approaches: (a) we begin by restricting our analysis to $`w>1`$ motivated by the difficulties in constructing stable models with $`w<1`$ (Carroll et al., 2003) and (b) relax this constraint and consider models that violate the weak energy condition (Schuecker et al., 2003b). Further analysis is needed for models where $`w`$ and the quintessence sound speed are a function of time (Dedeo et al., 2003). The addition of a new parameter introduces a new degeneracy between $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$, $`h`$, and $`w`$ that can not be broken by CMB data alone (Huey et al., 1999; Verde et al., 2003): models with the same values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$ and first peak position have nearly identical angular power spectra.

For example, a model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.47,w=1/2`$ and $`h=0.57`$ has a nearly identical angular power spectrum to our $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model. Note, however, that this Hubble Constant value differs by $`2\sigma `$ from the HST Key Project value and the predicted shape of the power spectrum is a poor fit to the 2dFGRS observations. This model is also a worse fit to the supernova angular diameter distance relation.

We consider four different combinations of astronomical data sets: (a) WMAPext data combined with the supernova observations; (b) WMAPext data combined with HST data; (c) WMAPext data combined with the 2dFGRS large scale structure data; (d) all data sets combined.

The CMB peak positions constrain the conformal distance to the decoupling surface. The amplitude of the early ISW signal determines the matter density, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2`$. The combination of these two measurements strongly constrains $`\mathrm{\Omega }(w)`$ and $`h(w)`$ (see Figures 11 and 12). The HST Key Project measurement of $`H_0`$ agrees with the inferred CMB value if $`w=1`$. As $`w`$ increases, the best fit $`H_0`$ value for the CMB drops below the Key Project value. Our joint analysis of CMB + HST Key Project data implies that $`w<0.5`$ (95% confidence interval). If future observations can reduce the uncertainties associated with the distance to the LMC, the $`H_0`$ measurements could place significantly stronger limits on $`w`$. Figures 11 and 12 show that the combination of either CMB$`+`$supernova data or CMB$`+`$large scale structure data place similar limits on dark energy properties. For our combined data set, we marginalize over all other parameters and find that $`w<0.78(95\%\text{ CL})`$ when we impose the prior that $`w>1`$. If we drop this prior, then all of the combined data sets appear to favor a model where the properties of the dark energy are close to the predicted properties of a cosmological constant ($`w=0.98\pm 0.12`$).

### 6.2 Non-Flat Models

The position of the first peak constrains the universe to be nearly flat (Kamionkowski et al., 1994); low density models with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ have their first peak position at $`l200\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{1/2}`$. However, if we allow for the possibility that the universe is non-flat and there is a cosmological constant, then there is a geometric degeneracy (Efstathiou & Bond, 1999): along a line in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ space, there is a set of models with nearly identical angular power spectra. While the allowed range of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}`$ is relatively small, there is a wide range in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ values compatible with the CMB data in a non-flat universe.

If we place no priors on cosmological parameters, then there is a model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ consistent with the WMAP data ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=6.6`$ relative to the flat model). However, the cosmological parameters for this model ($`H_0=32.5`$ km/s/Mpc, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}=1.28`$) are violently inconsistent with a host of astronomical measurements. The flat $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=1,\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ standard CDM model is inconsistent with the WMAP data at more than the $`5\sigma `$ level.

If we include a weak prior on the Hubble Constant, $`H_0>50`$km/s/Mpc, then this is sufficient to constrain $`0.98<\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}<1.08`$ (95% confidence interval). Combining the WMAPextdata with supernova measurements of the angular diameter distance relationship (see figure 13) we obtain $`0.98<\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}<1.06`$. This confidence interval does not require a prior on $`h`$. If we further include the HST Key Project measurement of $`H_0`$ as a prior, then the limits on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ improve slightly: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}<1.02\pm 0.02`$ Figure 13 shows the two dimensional likelihood surface for various combinations of the data.

### 6.3 Massive Neutrinos

Copious numbers of neutrinos were produced in the early universe. If these neutrinos have non-negligible mass they can make a non-trivial contribution to the total energy density of the universe during both matter and radiation domination. During matter domination, the massive neutrinos cluster on very large scales but free-stream out of smaller scale fluctuations. This free-streaming changes the shape of the matter power spectrum (Hu et al., 1998) and most importantly, suppresses the amplitude of fluctuations. Since we can normalize the amplitude of fluctuations to the WMAP data, the amplitude of fluctuations in the 2dFGRS data places significant limits on neutrino properties.

The contribution of neutrinos to the energy density of the universe depends upon the sum of the mass of the light neutrino species:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu h^2=\frac{_im_i}{94.0\mathrm{eV}}.$$
(6)
Note that the sum only includes neutrino species light enough to decouple while still relativistic.

Experiments that probe neutrino propagation from source to detector are sensitive not to the neutrino mass but to the square mass difference between different neutrino mass eiginstates. Solar neutrino experiments (Bahcall et al., 2003a) imply that the square mass difference between the electron and muon neutrino is $`10^9`$ eV. The deficit of muon neutrinos in atmospheric showers imply that the mass difference between muon and tau neutrinos is $`10^5`$eV2 (Kearns, 2002). If the electron neutrino is much lighter than the tau neutrino, then the combination of these results imply that $`m_{\nu _\tau }<0.1`$ eV: still below the detection limits for our data-set. On the other hand, if $`m_{\nu _e}m_{\nu _\tau }`$, then the three neutrino species can leave an observable imprint on the CMB angular power spectrum and the galaxy large scale structure power spectrum. In our analysis, we consider this latter case and assume that there are three degenerate stable light neutrino species.

Figure 14 shows the cumulative likelihood of the combination of WMAP, CBI, ACBAR, and 2dFGRS data as a function of the energy density in neutrinos. Based on this analysis, we conclude that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu h^2<0.0067`$ (95% confidence limit). If we add the Lyman $`\alpha `$ data, then the limit slightly weakens to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu h^2<0.0076`$. For three degenerate neutrino species, this implies that $`m_\nu <0.23`$eV. This limit is roughly a factor of two improvement over previous analyses (e.g., Elgarøy et al. (2002)) that had to assume strong priors on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`H_0`$.

### 6.4 Tensors

Many models of inflation predict a significant gravity wave background. These tensor fluctuations were generated during inflation. Tensor fluctuations have their largest effects on large angular scales where they add in quadrature to the fluctuations generated by scalar modes.

Here, we place limits on the amplitude of tensor modes. We define the tensor amplitude using the same convention as Leach et al. (2002):

$$r\frac{P_{tensor}(k_{})}{P_{scalar}(k_{})},$$
(7)
where $`P_{tensor}`$ and $`P_{scalar}`$ are the primordial amplitude of tensor and scalar fluctuations and $`k_{}=0.002`$ Mpc-1. Since we see no evidence for tensor modes in our fit, we simplify the analysis by assuming that the tensor spectral index satisfies the single field inflationary consistency condition:

$$n_t=r/8.$$
(8)
This constraint reduces the number of parameters in this model to 8: $`A`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2`$, $`h`$, $`n_s`$, $`dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k`$, $`r`$ and $`\tau `$. We ignore the running of $`n_t`$. The addition of this new parameter does not improve the fit as figure (15) shows the combination of WMAPext+ 2dFGRS + Lyman $`\alpha `$ is able to place a limit on the tensor amplitude: $`r<0.90`$ (95% confidence limit). As table (9) shows, this limit is much more stringent if we restrict the parameter space to models with either $`n_s<1`$ or $`|dn/d\mathrm{ln}k|=0`$.

Peiris et al. (2003) discuss the implications of our limits on tensor amplitude for inflationary scenarios. Using the results of this analysis, Peiris et al. (2003) shows that the inferred joint likelihood of $`n_s`$, $`dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k`$ and $`r`$ places significant constraints on inflationary models.

## 7 INTRIGUING DISCREPANCIES

While the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model’s success in fitting CMB data and a host of other astronomical data is truly remarkable, there remain a pair of intriguing discrepancies: on both the largest and smallest scales. While adding a running spectral index may resolve problems on small scales, there remains a possible discrepancy between predictions and observations on the largest angular scales.

Figure 16 shows the measured angular power spectrum and the predictions of our best fit $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model, where the data were fit to both CMB and large-scale structure data. The figure also shows the measured angular correlation function; the lack of any correlated signal on angular scales greater than 60 degrees is noteworthy. We quantify this lack of power on large scales by measuring a four point statistic:

$$S=_1^{1/2}[C(\theta )]^2d\mathrm{cos}\theta .$$
(9)
The upper cutoff and the form of this statistic were both determined a posteori in response to the shape of the correlation function. We evaluate the statistical significance of these discrepancies by doing Monte-Carlo realizations of the first 100,000 models in the Markov chains. This allows us to average not only over cosmic variance but also over our uncertainties in cosmological parameters. For our $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM Markov chains (fit to the WMAPext+ 2dFGRS data sets), we find that only 0.7% of the models have lower values for the quadrupole and only 0.15% of the simulations have lower values of $`S`$. For the running model, we find that only 0.9% of the models have lower values for the quadrupole and only 0.3% of the simulations have lower values of $`S`$. The shape of the angular correlation function is certainly unusual for realizations of this model.

Is this discrepancy meaningful? The low quadrupole was already clearly seen in COBE and was usually dismissed as due to cosmic variance (Bond et al., 1998) or foreground contamination. While the WMAP data reinforces the case for its low value, cosmic variance is significant on these large angular scales and any Gaussian field will always have unusual features. On the other hand, this discrepancy could be the signature of interesting new physics.

The discovery of an accelerating universe implies that at these large scales, there is new and not understood physics. This new physics is usually interpreted to be dark energy or a cosmological constant. In either case, we would expect that the decay of fluctuations at late times produces a significant ISW signal. Boughn et al. (1998) argue that in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.25`$, there should be a detectable correlation between the CMB signal and tracers of large-scale structure; yet they were not able to detect a signal. There are alternative explanations of the accelerating universe, such as extra dimensional gravity theories (Deffayet et al., 2002) that do not require a cosmological constant and should make radically different predictions for the CMB on these angular scales. These predictions have not yet been calculated.

What could generate this unusual shaped angular correlation function? As an example, we compute the angular correlation function in a toy model, where the power spectrum has the form:

$$P(k)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{\delta (k5.8n/\tau _0)}{k}.$$
(10)
where $`\tau _0`$ is the conformal distance to the surface of last scatter. This toy model simulates both the effects of a discrete power spectrum due to a finite universe and the effects of ringing in the power spectrum due to a feature in the inflaton potential (see Peiris et al. (2003) for a discussion of inflationary models). Figure 16 shows the angular correlation function and figure 17 show the TE power spectrum of the model. Note that the TE power spectrum is particularly sensitive to features in the matter power spectrum. Intriguingly, this toy model is a better match to the observed correlation function than the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model and predicts a distinctive signature in the TE spectrum. Cornish et al. (1998) show that if the universe was finite and smaller than the volume within the decoupling surface, then there should be a very distinctive signal: matched circles. The surface of last scatter is a sphere centered around WMAP. If the universe is finite then this sphere must intersect itself, this leads to pairs of matched circles. These match circles provide not only the definitive signature of a finite universe but also should enable cosmologists to determine the topology of the universeCornish et al. (1998b); Weeks (1998). Should we be able to detect circles if the power spectrum cutoff is due to the size of the largest mode being $`1/\tau _0`$? While there is no rigorous theorem relating the size of the largest mode to the diameter of the fundamental domain, $`D`$, analysis of both negatively curved (Cornish & Spergel, 2000) and positively curved (Lehoucq et al., 2002) topologies suggest that $`D(0.61)\lambda `$. Thus, if the “peak” in the power spectrum at $`l=5`$ corresponds to the largest mode in the domain, we should be able to detect a pattern of circles in the sky.

Due to the finite size of the patch of the universe visible to WMAP (or any future satellite), our ability to determine the origin and significance of this discrepancy will be limited by cosmic variance. However, future observations can offer some new insight into its origin. By combining the WMAP data with tracers of large scale structure (Boughn et al., 1998; Peiris & Spergel, 2000), astronomers may be able to directly detect the component of the CMB fluctuations due to the ISW effect. WMAP’s ongoing observations of large-scale microwave background polarization fluctuations will enable additional measurements of fluctuations at large angular scales. Since the TE observations are probing different regions of the sky from the TT observations, they may enlighten us on whether the lack of correlations on large angular scales is a statistical fluke or the signature of new physics.

## 8 CONCLUSIONS

Cosmology now has a standard model: a flat universe composed of matter, baryons and vacuum energy with a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of primordial fluctuations. In this cosmological model, the properties of the universe are characterized by the density of baryons, matter and the expansion rate: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m,`$ and $`h`$. For the analysis of CMB results, all of the effects of star formation can be incorporated in a single number: the optical depth due to reionization, $`\tau `$. The primordial fluctuations in this model are characterized by a spectral index. Despite its simplicity, it is an adequate fit not only to the WMAP temperature and polarization data but also to small scale CMB data, large scale structure data, and supernova data. This model is consistent with the baryon/photon ratio inferred from observations of $`D/H`$ in distant quasars, the HST Key Project measurement of the Hubble constant, stellar ages and the amplitude of mass fluctuations inferred from clusters and from gravitational lensing. When we include large scale structure or Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest data in the analysis, the data suggest that we may need to add an additional parameter: $`dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k`$. Since the best fit models predict that the slope of the power spectrum is redder on small scales, this model predicts later formation times for dwarf galaxies. This modification to the power law $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model may resolve many of its problems on the galaxy scale. Table (10) lists the best fit parameters for this model.

While there have been a host of papers on cosmological parameters, WMAP has brought this program to a new stage: WMAP ’s more accurate determination of the angular power spectrum has significantly reduced parameter uncertainties, WMAP ’s detection of TE fluctuations has confirmed the basic model and its detection of reionization signature has reduced the $`n_s\tau `$ degeneracy. Most importantly, the rigorous propagation of errors and uncertainties in the WMAP data has strengthened the significance of the inferred parameter values.

In this paper, we have also examined a number of more complicated models: non-flat universes, quintessence models, models with massive neutrinos, and models with tensor gravitational wave modes. By combining the WMAP data with finer scale CMB experiments and with other astronomical data sets (2dFGRS galaxy power spectrum and SNIa observations), we place significant new limits on these parameters.

Cosmology is now in a similar stage in its intellectual development to particle physics three decades ago when particle physicists converged on the current standard model. The standard model of particle physics fits a wide range of data, but does not answer many fundamental questions: “what is the origin of mass? why is there more than one family?, etc.” Similarly, the standard cosmological model has many deep open questions: ”what is the dark energy? what is the dark matter? what is the physical model behind inflation (or something like inflation)?” Over the past three decades, precision tests have confirmed the standard model of particle physics and searched for distinctive signatures of the natural extension of the standard model: supersymmetry. Over the coming years, improving CMB, large scale structure, lensing, and supernova data will provide ever more rigorous tests of the cosmological standard model and search for new physics beyond the standard model.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Ed Jenkins for helpful comments about the \[D/H\] recent measurements and their interpretation. We thank Raul Jimenez for useful discussions about the cosmic ages. We thank Adam Riess for providing us with the likelihood surface form the SNIA data. The WMAP mission is made possible by the support of the Office Space at NASA Headquarters and by the hard and capable work of scores of scientists, engineers, managers, administrative staff, and reviewers. LV is supported by NASA through Chandra Fellowship PF2-30022 issued by the Chandra X-ray Observatory center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of NASA under contract NAS8-39073.


format: text

text:
# Magnetic susceptibility of an integrable anisotropic spin ladder system

## 1 Introduction

The study of spin ladders, both from an experimental as well as from a theoretical point of view has gained much attention in the last few years and has by now a literature of its own. On the one hand with the discovery of high–Tc superconductivity in doped cuprate materials , a tremendous effort has been made to understand the physics of these compounds, in which the $`Cu`$$`O`$ ions build up a two-dimensional lattice. This task is made more difficult by the lack of exactly integrable models as compared to 1–D where an abundance of such models has been known for decades. On the other hand spin ladders are prototypes of quasi one-dimensional systems and as such represent an excellent proving ground for studying the transition from the more amenable and better understood physics of one–dimensional quantum systems to two–dimensional behavior. They exhibit antiferromagnetic (AF) ground states, where at each site of the lattice (in the undoped state) an electron occupies one of two spin states . As such they can be reasonably well approximated by the archetypical AF Heisenberg model or some suitable generalization thereof. In one dimension the Heisenberg model is exactly solvable via the Bethe Ansatz and from the solution it is known that in the AF regime, up to a given threshold of the spin exchange interaction, the elementary spin excitations are gapless (beyond the threshold one has a Néel-like groundstate with gapped excitations) . The existence of a spin gap is critical for the occurence of superconductivity under doping, whereby the holes introduced through doping undergo a Bose-Einstein condensation. By introducing the concept of a ladder model this apparent contradiction is resolved, since these systems allow for the formation of singlet states along the rungs which in turn are responsible for the appearance of a spin gap. (Strictly speaking the singlet states can only form when there is an even number of legs ). Recently, with the rapid progress being made in nano-engineering, many different species of ladder compounds such as $`S_rCu_2O_3`$, $`La_{1x}Sr_xCuO_{2.5}`$, $`Sr_{14x}Ca_xCu_{24}O_{41}`$ and other organic compounds  have been investigated in this context. This theory is now supported by a substantial body of experimental evidence.

However, in contradistinction to its one-dimensional counterpart, the two–dimensional Heisenberg ladder model cannot be solved exactly. So in the search for exactly integrable models which might give one a better insight into the physics of ladder systems, many authors have considered generalized models which incorporate additional interaction terms without violating integrability . Notwithstanding the fact that these models exhibit realistic physical properties such as the existence of a spin gap  and the magnetization plateaus at fractional values of the total magnetization , up to our knowledge none has been used to predict physical quantities that could be compared directly with experimental data.

The main goal of the present work is to show that integrable ladder models can be used to model experimental data. In particular, we discuss a generalized integrable spin ladder with incorporates an additional anisotropy parameter besides the rung and leg interactions and show that the magnetic susceptibility as obtained from this model as a function of temperature fits well the experimental data for the ladder compounds $`KCuCl_3`$ , $`Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4`$  and $`(C_5H_{12}N)_2CuBr_4`$ . The model is exactly solvable by the Bethe Ansatz and reduces to the model introduced by Wang  for some special limit of this extra parameter. This additional free parameter, which we call $`t`$, brings about an anisotropy–dependent critical line through an explicit functional dependence of the excitation gap. The thermodynamics of the model is investigated and the magnetic susceptibility curve as a function of the temperature is obtained. The influence of this anisotropy parameter on the thermodynamics of the model is also determined. A comparison between the spin gap obtained from the susceptibility curve and that one obtained from the Bethe ansatz equations is performed and a good agreement is found.

The paper is divided as follows: In section $`2`$ we describe the model and its Bethe Ansatz solution. Section $`3`$ discusses the thermodynamical properties of the model and is also devoted to a comparison between the experimental results and our findings. We conclude the paper with a brief summary.

## 2 The model

Let us begin by presenting the integrable anisotropic spin ladder model in the presence of an external magnetic field $`h`$, whose Hamiltonian reads

$$H=\underset{j=1}{\overset{L}{}}[J_lh_{j,j+1}+\frac{J_r}{2}(\stackrel{}{\sigma _j}.\stackrel{}{\tau _j}1)\frac{h}{2}(\sigma _j^z+\tau _j^z)]$$
(1)
where

$`h_{j,j+1}`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(1+\sigma _j^z\sigma _{j+1}^z)(1+\tau _j^z\tau _{j+1}^z)+(\sigma _j^+\sigma _{j+1}^{}+\sigma _j^{}\sigma _{j+1}^+)(\tau _j^+\tau _{j+1}^{}+\tau _j^{}\tau _{j+1}^+)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(1+\sigma _j^z\sigma _{j+1}^z)(t^1\tau _j^+\tau _{j+1}^{}+t\tau _j^{}\tau _{j+1}^+)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(t^1\sigma _j^+\sigma _{j+1}^{}+t\sigma _j^{}\sigma _{j+1}^+)(1+\tau _j^z\tau _{j+1}^z).`$
Periodic boundary conditions are imposed along the legs. As usual $`\stackrel{}{\sigma _j}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{\tau _j}`$ are Pauli matrices acting on site $`j`$ of the upper and lower legs respectively, $`J_r(J_l)`$ is the strength of the rung coupling (leg coupling) and $`t`$ is a free parameter which introduces an anisotropy in the leg and in the interchain interactions. Throughout this paper $`L`$ stands for the number of rungs (the length of the ladder). By setting $`t1`$ in Eq. (1) one recovers the isotropic model of Wang  based on the $`SU(4)`$ symmetry (strictly speaking Wang’s model is $`SU(4)`$–invariant only in the absence of the rung interactions). The Hamiltonian is invariant under the interchange of the legs, i.e. $`\stackrel{}{\sigma _j}\stackrel{}{\tau _j}`$. Moreover, under spin inversion on both leg spaces it is also invariant under the exchange $`tt^1`$. The energy eigenvalues of (1) are given by

$$\frac{E}{J_l}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{M_1}{}}\left(\frac{1}{\lambda _j^2+1/4}2\frac{J_r}{J_l}+\frac{h}{J_l}\right)+\left(12\frac{J_r}{J_l}\right)L+\frac{h}{J_l}(M_2+M_3)$$
(2)
where the $`\lambda _j`$’s are solutions of the three–level nested Bethe ansatz equations

$`t^{(L2M_3)}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _ji/2}{\lambda _j+i/2}}\right)^L`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{lj}{\overset{M_1}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _j\lambda _li}{\lambda _j\lambda _l+i}}{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha =1}{\overset{M_2}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _j\mu _\alpha +i/2}{\lambda _j\mu _\alpha i/2}}`$
$`t^{(L2M_3)}{\displaystyle \underset{\beta \alpha }{\overset{M_2}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _\alpha \mu _\beta i}{\mu _\alpha \mu _\beta +i}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{M_1}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _\alpha \lambda _ji/2}{\mu _\alpha \lambda _j+i/2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\delta =1}{\overset{M_3}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _\alpha \nu _\delta i/2}{\mu _\alpha \nu _\delta +i/2}}`$ (3)
$`t^{(L+2M_22M_1)}{\displaystyle \underset{\gamma \delta }{\overset{M_3}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\nu _\delta \nu _\gamma i}{\nu _\delta \nu _\gamma +i}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha =1}{\overset{M_2}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\nu _\delta \mu _\alpha i/2}{\nu _\delta \mu _\alpha +i/2}}`$
For the sake of convenience we take from here on $`J_l=1`$. From an analysis of these equations it follows that for $`J_r>1+\frac{1}{2}(t+\frac{1}{t})`$ the reference state becomes the ground state and any excitation is gapped. In this region the ground state is given by a product of rung singlets, indicating a dimerization along the rungs.The energy gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ can be calculated using the exact Bethe ansatz solution and has the form

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=2\left(J_r1\frac{h}{2}\frac{1}{2}(t+\frac{1}{t})\right).$$
(4)
By solving $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ for $`J_r`$ we find the critical value $`J_{r}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}=1+\frac{1}{2}(t+\frac{1}{t})`$, indicating the critical line at which the quantum phase transition from the dimerized phase to the gapless phase occurs. This result is depicted in Fig. 1.

Notice that by choosing $`t`$ real one has $`J_{r}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}2`$ which corresponds to the strong coupling limit. We therefore expect our anisotropic model to be a good candidate for describing some organic ladder compounds, such as $`KCuCl_3`$, $`Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4`$, $`TlCuCl_3`$ and $`(C_5H_{12}N)_2CuBr_4`$.

## 3 Comparison with experimental data

Our main goal is to calculate the magnetic susceptibility $`\chi `$ of our exactly integrable ladder Hamiltonian and compare it to experimental data on the compounds mentioned before.

In order to do this we block–diagonalize the Hamiltonian Eq. (1) for a sequence of finite chains (up to $`6`$ rungs or $`12`$ sites) and for different values of the coupling $`J_r`$ and anisotropy $`t`$. With these spectra we generate a sequence of finite–size susceptibilities $`\chi ^{(\text{L})}`$ as a function of the temperature $`T`$ and then apply a standard Bulirsch-Stoer acceleration technique  to the sequence in order to determine the susceptibility in the thermodynamic limit $`L\mathrm{}`$. An example for $`J_r=7`$ and $`t=1`$ is presented in Fig. 2.

In order to compare our results with experimental data available on a series of compounds, a few remarks on the behavior of the susceptibility as a function of $`J_r`$ and $`t`$ are necessary, as well as the procedure used for choosing the values of our parameters. First we observe that for a fixed value of $`t`$ there is a ’smoothing out’ of the susceptibility curve for increasing $`J_r`$ while for fixed $`J_r`$ the magnetic susceptibility increases with decreasing $`t`$, as can be seen in Fig. $`3a`$.

The second point is that in all cases the susceptibility presents an exponential decay for low temperature $`T<<\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$ is the spin gap of the system

$$\chi \frac{e^{\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^{}}{T}}}{\sqrt{T}}$$
(5)
which is in agreement with the result of Troyer et. al.  for the Heisenberg spin ladder model. By linearizing Eq. (5) a numerical value for the spin gap ($`\mathrm{\Delta }^{}`$) can be found. When compared to the exact expression of the spin gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ obtained from the Bethe Ansatz Equations (4) at $`T=0`$ an excellent agreement is found as can be seen in Table $`1`$. The linearized curves are depicted in Fig. 3b.

We remark that the behavior of the magnetic susceptibility for the critical value of the couplings ($`J_{r}^{}{}_{}{}^{c}`$) is of the form

$$\chi \frac{1}{\sqrt{T}}$$
(6)
which indicates a typical quantum critical behavior. This had already been predicted in  for the isotropic case as illustrated in Fig. $`4`$ for different values of $`t`$.

By setting our parameters accordingly we were able to obtain the spin gap for some ladder compounds such as $`KCuCl_3`$ , $`Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4`$ , $`(C_5H_{12}N)_2CuBr_4`$  which were previously studied by different authors using different methods. A comparison of our choice of parameters with the experimental data $`\mathrm{\Delta }^{exp}`$  for the above mentioned compounds is depicted in Table $`2`$.

For the sake of clarity we present the results on three different compounds separately and refer the reader to the quoted works for more details on the experimental setup.

### 3.1 $`KCuCl_3`$

The magnetic properties of this system were investigated in  where a non-magnetic ground state and a spin gap in the excitation spectrum were reported. The crystal structure of this compound is moniclinic and the double chain feature of the system arises from two edge–sharing chains of $`CuCl_6`$ octahedra (see  for more details on the geometry of this compound).

The experimental data  and exact diagonalization results are depicted in Fig. 5.

The spin gap we used was estimated experimentally to be $`31.10K`$ . The full line was obtained using the following exchange couplings: $`J_l=12.3K`$, $`J_r=49.2K`$ and $`t=0.3575`$. We observe that the low–temperature regime shows a better agreement between theory and experiment. The deviation in the high–temperature regime might arise from the existence, in the compound, of a ferromagnetic coupling which takes place between the $`3d`$ orbitals of $`Cu^{+2}`$ ions mediated by the $`Cl`$ anions , a coupling which is not present in our model.

### 3.2  $`Cu_2(C_5H_{12}N_2)_2Cl_4`$

This compound have been studied by Chaboussant et al . The ladder structure arises from the stacking of $`Cu`$$`Cu`$ binuclear units (each $`Cu`$ is to be seen as belonging to one leg). For magnetic fields below $`h=7.5T`$ the one–dimensional ground state is a valence-bond singlet structure on each rung and the system is gapped. Above this lower critical field, the first excited state (a triplet) becomes the ground state and the system has a non–zero magnetization. There are basically three different exchange paths between $`Cu`$ ions: the intramolecular exchange constant $`J_r`$ between $`Cu`$-$`Cu`$ ions takes place through two $`Cl`$ ions while the intermolecular $`J_l`$ involves in–plane unpaired electron densities of $`Cu`$ ions of different molecules. The third intermolecular exchange introduces a frustration via next–nearest neighbor interaction and occurs through hydrogen bonds between the $`Cl`$ and $`N`$ ions. This interaction is however significantly smaller than $`J_r`$ and is taken altogether equal to zero in our model. The low–temperature gap has been determined through susceptibility measurements and NMR techniques to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }=10.8\pm 0.6`$K with $`J_l=2.4`$K and $`J_r=13.2`$K . The same gap can be obtained in our model with the choices $`J_l=2.4K`$, $`J_r=13.2K`$ and $`t=0.2344`$. The agreement between the low–temperature experimental data and our results is excellent, as can be seen in Fig. 6, and remains good for the whole temperature range.

### 3.3  $`(C_5H_{12}N)_2CuBr_4`$

As in the previous compound, here we also have a binuclear $`Cu`$$`Cu`$ stacked structure. The intramolecular exchange coupling is mediated through an orbital overlap of $`Br`$ ions adjacent to the $`Cu`$ sites. The intermolecular exchange is also mediated by $`Br`$ ions a bit further apart ($`8.597\AA `$ in comparison to intramolecular distances of $`6.934\AA `$). A diagonal frustration exchange should be present but it is expected to be weak . The exchange couplings used were $`J_l=4.0K`$, $`J_r=16.0K`$ and $`t=0.31K`$. Again the fit is better for low temperatures, with an energy gap of $`9.8`$ K ($`9.5`$ K experimentally ) and an exponential drop in the magnetic susceptibility. The data is depicted in Fig. 7.

## 4 Summary

We presented a numerical analysis of thermodynamic properties of an integrable anisotropic spin ladder model which has, besides the rung and leg couplings, an extra free anisotropy parameter. From the Bethe Ansatz equations as well as the exact expression for the energy spectrum  we showed that the model exhibits an anisotropy– dependent spin gap. The critical line and phase diagram were obtained. The magnetic susceptibility was investigated and good agreement was found between the gap obtained from the Bethe ansatz equations and the gap obtained from the magnetic susceptibility. A connection with some strong coupling compounds was discussed and our results reproduce well experimental data for these compounds in strong coupling limit. The anisotropy parameter in our model has no obvious physical interpretation. However, cyclic four-spin exchange terms are known to affect the excitation spectrum of spin ladders and the importance of this type of interaction for appropriately describing the properties of strong–coupling ladders has also been established . As shown in this work the anisotropy parameter allows us to tune our model to different physical systems of interest, thus presenting a unified scenario for strong–coupling ladders.

This work has been financially supported by the brazilian federal agency CNPq (APT, AF and ALM) and the state agency FAPESP (ALM).