Detection of cosmic microwave background structure in a second field with the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope

Abstract

We describe observations at frequencies near 15 GHz of the second 2×2 deg2 field imaged with the Cambridge Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope (CAT). After the removal of discrete radio sources, structure is detected in the images on characteristic scales of about half a degree, corresponding to spherical harmonic multipoles in the range ℓ≈330–680. A Bayesian analysis confirms that the signal arises predominantly from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation for multipoles in the lower half of this range; the average broad‐band power in a bin with centroid 𝓁=422 (θ≈51 arcmin) is estimated to be . For multipoles centred on ℓ=615 (θ≈35 arcmin), we find contamination from Galactic emission is significant, and constrain the CMB contribution to the measured power in this bin to be ΔTT<2.0×10−5 (1σ upper limit). These new results are consistent with the first detection made by CAT in a completely different area of sky. Together with data from other experiments, this new CAT detection adds weight to earlier evidence from CAT for a downturn in the CMB power spectrum on scales smaller than 1 deg. Improved limits on the values of H0 and Ω are determined using the new CAT data.

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