Understanding the WMAP Cold Spot mystery

Understand

The first and third year data releases from the WMAP provide evidence of an anomalous Cold Spot (CS) at galactic latitude b=-57deg and longitude l=209deg.

• We have examined the properties of the CS in some detail in order to assess its cosmological significance.
• We have performed a cluster analysis of the local extrema in the CMB signal to show that the CS is actually associated with a large group of extrema rather than just one.
• In the light of this we have re-examined the properties of the WMAP ILC and co-added "cleaned" WCM maps, which have previously been used for the analysis of the properties of the signal in the vicinity of the CS.