Can Cosmic Shear Shed Light on Low Cosmic Microwave Background Multipoles?

Abstract

The lowest multipole moments of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are smaller than expected for a scale-invariant power spectrum. One possible explanation is a cutoff in the primordial power spectrum below a comoving scale of $k_c \simeq 5.0 \times 10^{-4}$ Mpc$^{-1}$. This would affect not only the CMB but also the cosmic-shear (CS) distortion of the CMB. Such a cutoff increases significantly the cross-correlation between the large-angle CMB and cosmic-shear patterns. The cross-correlation may be detectable at $> 2σ$ which, when combined with the low CMB moments, may tilt the balance between a $2σ$ result and a firm detection of a large-scale power-spectrum cutoff. As an aside, we also note that the cutoff increases the large-angle cross-correlation between the CMB and low-redshift tracers of the mass distribution.

5 pages, 3 figures, revised statistical analysis, submitted to PRL