Physics of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy

Understand

Observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), especially of its frequency spectrum and its anisotropies, both in temperature and in polarization, have played a key role in the development of modern cosmology and our understanding of the very early universe.

• We review the underlying physics of the CMB and how the primordial temperature and polarization anisotropies were imprinted.
• Possibilities for distinguishing competing cosmological models are emphasized.
• The current status of CMB experiments and experimental techniques with an emphasis toward future observations, particularly in polarization, is reviewed.