On the possibility of constraining cosmic topology from the celestial distribution of astronomical objects

• Published in: Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) Vol. 531; p. A171
• Main Authors: Fujii, H., Yoshii, Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Les Ulis EDP Sciences 01.07.2011
• Subjects: Astronomy; cosmology: theory; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; large scale structure of Universe; Holonomy; large scale structure of Universe; Astronomical catalogues; Signal-to-noise ratio; Cosmology; Spheres; Topology; Large-scale structure; cosmology: theory
• ISSN: 0004-6361; 1432-0746
• DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201117010

We present a method of constraining cosmic topology from the distribution of astronomical objects projected on the celestial sphere. This is an extension of the 3D method we introduced in 2011 of searching for two pairs of observed objects (quadruplet) linked by a holonomy; i.e., the method we present here is to search for a pair of celestial sphere n-tuplets for n ≥ 3. We find, however, that this method is impractical for application in realistic situations due to the small signal-to-noise ratio. We conclude therefore that it is unrealistic to constrain the topology of the Universe from the celestial distribution, and the 3D catalogs are necessary for the purpose.