Imaging the Infant Universe

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a relic radiation of the Big Bang and as such it contains a wealth of cosmological information. Statistical analyses of the CMB represent some of the most powerful techniques available to cosmologists for placing strong constraints on the cosmological parameters that describe the origin, content and evolution of the Universe. The last decade has witnessed the introduction of wavelet analyses in cosmology and, in particular, their application to the CMB. This book describes new wavelet and optimal filtering methodologies on the sphere and their application to the analysis of full-sky observations of the CMB. These new methods allow tighter constraints to be placed on our understanding of various cosmological processes. This book is likely to be of interest to both researchers in cosmology and also general readers that are interested to learn how the CMB may be used to improve our understanding of the Universe.