Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and Implications for Cosmology and Large Scale Structure

Abstract

Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are discussed, with particular emphasis on current ground-based experiments and on future satellite, balloon and interferometer experiments. Observational techniques and the effects of contaminating foregrounds are highlighted. Recent CMB data is used with large scale structure (LSS) data to constrain cosmological parameters and the complementary nature of CMB, LSS and supernova distance data is emphasized.

23 pages, 10 figures. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A., 1998, in press