Charles L. Bennett led the final nine-year WMAP analysis of cosmic microwave background maps. The work combined sky temperature and polarization measurements while modeling Galactic foreground emission and the response of the observing beams.
The angular patterns constrain cosmological parameters through a physical model of the early Universe. The paper compared the resulting Lambda-CDM model with independent observations, including baryon acoustic oscillations. Its quoted cosmic age and expansion rate are fitted consequences of those combined data and assumptions, rather than direct readings from a single sky image.[ref]
Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results by C. L. Bennett and others. Abstract: beam treatment, foreground separation, nine-year maps and combined cosmological constraints
Portrait of Charles L. Bennett
. Johns Hopkins University (JHU); individual photographer not separately named in the File. File dated 2015. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International., via Wikimedia Commons. Source. Articles by others on the same topic
Charles L. Bennett is a prominent astrophysicist known for his work in the field of cosmology. He is particularly recognized for his role as a lead scientist on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mission, which was instrumental in measuring the cosmic microwave background radiation. WMAP provided important information about the early universe, helping to refine our understanding of the Big Bang, the age of the universe, and the distribution of dark matter and dark energy.