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Interpretation of observed cosmic microwave background radiation

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Abstract

ALFVEN and Mendis1 concluded recently that dust grains in galaxies rendered the Universe opaque to the cosmic microwave background at a red shift of z = 40, instead of the generally accepted value of z = 1,500. This is highly significant because the microwave background is usually believed to be evidence for very hot, dense phase of the Universe2. If we can see no further back than z = 40, then one objection to nonstandard3 (no big bang) cosmological models is removed. I present here some arguments to show that their assumptions are unreasonable and that a proper calculation in the standard big bang model shows that dust grains are transparent to the microwave background.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720

    STEPHEN POLLAINE

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  1. STEPHEN POLLAINE
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POLLAINE, S. Interpretation of observed cosmic microwave background radiation. Nature 271, 426–427 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271426a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271426a0

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