Comments on the Correlation Function Analysis\\ of the COBE-DMR First-Year Sky Maps
Session 121 -- Cosmology and CMB
Oral presentation, Saturday, January 15, 2:15-3:45, Salon III Room (Crystal Gateway)

## [121.04] Comments on the Correlation Function Analysis\\ of the COBE-DMR First-Year Sky Maps

C. Lineweaver (UCBerkeley)

The two-point temperature correlation function, C($\alpha$), provides an important characterization of cosmic microwave background anisotropies as seen in the first-year DMR sky maps. We investigate the extent to which the noise in the DMR sky maps is correlated from pixel to pixel, and determine the effect of such correlations on C($\alpha$). We use Monte Carlo simulations to quantify the effects of uneven sampling, beam smoothing, galactic cut, multipole subtraction and binning choice. Additionally, we compare several methods used to obtain the quadrupole normalization $Q_{rms-PS}$ and the power law spectral index $n$ from the correlation function.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC) is responsible for the design, development, and operation of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). The COBE program is supported by the Astrophysics Division of NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.