Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from MAXIMA-1

Abstract

We set new constraints on a seven-dimensional space of cosmological parameters within the class of inflationary adiabatic models. We use the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background measured over a wide range of l in the first flight of the MAXIMA balloon-borne experiment (MAXIMA-1) and the low-l results from the COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer experiment. We find constraints on the total energy density of the universe, Ω = 1.0img1.gif, the physical density of baryons, Ωbh2 = 0.03 ± 0.01, the physical density of cold dark matter, Ωcdmh2 = 0.2img2.gif, and the spectral index of primordial scalar fluctuations, ns = 1.08 ± 0.1, all at the 95% confidence level. By combining our results with measurements of high-redshift supernovae we constrain the value of the cosmological constant and the fractional amount of pressureless matter in the universe to 0.45 < ΩΛ < 0.75 and 0.25 < Ωm < 0.50, at the 95% confidence level. Our results are consistent with a flat universe and the shape parameter deduced from large-scale structure, and in marginal agreement with the baryon density from big bang nucleosynthesis.

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Affiliated Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley US
• University of Rome Tor Vergata IT
• University of Minnesota US
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory US
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory US
• Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center PL
• California Institute of Technology US
• Queen Mary University of London GB
• Sapienza University of Rome IT
• Instituto Superior Técnico
• National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center US
• University of Oxford GB
• Quantum Science and Technology in Arcetri IT
• Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté FR

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