Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 221301 (2004) [4 pages]Is the Low-ℓ Microwave Background Cosmic?Received 26 March 2004; revised 14 September 2004; published 23 November 2004 The large-angle (low-ℓ) correlations of the cosmic microwave background exhibit several statistically significant anomalies compared to the standard inflationary cosmology. We show that the quadrupole plane and the three octopole planes are far more aligned than previously thought (99.9% C.L.). Three of these planes are orthogonal to the ecliptic at 99.1% C.L., and the normals to these planes are aligned at 99.6% C.L. with the direction of the cosmological dipole and with the equinoxes. The remaining octopole plane is orthogonal to the supergalactic plane at 99.6% C.L. © 2004 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.221301
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.221301
PACS:
98.70.Vc
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