Testing the Cosmic Microwave Background Data for Systematic Effects

Abstract

Under the assumption that the concordance A cold dark matter (CDM) model is the correct model, we test the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data for systematic effects by examining the bandpass temperature residuals with respect to this model. Residuals are analyzed as a function of angular scale l, Galactic latitude, frequency, calibration source, instrument type, and several other variables that may be associated with potential systematic effects. Our main result is that we find no significant systematic errors associated with these variables. However, we do find marginal evidence for a trend associated with Galactic latitude indicative of Galactic contamination.