dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaThe Real Message in the Sky
| Authors | Douglas Scott, J. P. Zibin |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0511135 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0511135 |
Abstract
A recent paper by Hsu & Zee (physics/0510102) suggests that if a Creator wanted to leave a message for us, and she wanted it to be decipherable to all sentient beings, then she would place it on the most cosmic of all billboards, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) sky. Here we point out that the spherical harmonic coefficients of the observed CMB anisotropies (or their squared amplitudes at each multipole) depend on the location of the observer, in both space and time. The amount of observer-independent information available in the CMB is a small fraction of the total that any observer can measure. Hence a lengthy message on the CMB sky is fundamentally no less observer-specific than a communication hidden in this morning's tea-leaves. Nevertheless, the CMB sky does encode a wealth of information about the structure of the cosmos and possibly about the nature of physics at the highest energy levels. The Universe has left us a message all on its own.
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"abstract": "A recent paper by Hsu \u0026 Zee (physics/0510102) suggests that if a Creator\nwanted to leave a message for us, and she wanted it to be decipherable to all\nsentient beings, then she would place it on the most cosmic of all billboards,\nthe Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) sky. Here we point out that the spherical\nharmonic coefficients of the observed CMB anisotropies (or their squared\namplitudes at each multipole) depend on the location of the observer, in both\nspace and time. The amount of observer-independent information available in the\nCMB is a small fraction of the total that any observer can measure. Hence a\nlengthy message on the CMB sky is fundamentally no less observer-specific than\na communication hidden in this morning\u0027s tea-leaves. Nevertheless, the CMB sky\ndoes encode a wealth of information about the structure of the cosmos and\npossibly about the nature of physics at the highest energy levels. The Universe\nhas left us a message all on its own.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0511135",
"authors": [
"Douglas Scott",
"J. P. Zibin"
],
"categories": [
"physics.pop-ph",
"astro-ph"
],
"title": "The Real Message in the Sky",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0511135"
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