Probing the statistical isotropy of the universe with Planck data of the cosmic microwave background

Abstract: We study the angular distribution of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to probe the statistical isotropy of the universe by using precise full-sky CMB data with a model-independent approach. We investigated the temperature-temperature angular correlations in the four Planck foreground-cleaned CMB maps that were released recently. We performed a directional analysis on the CMB sphere to search directions in which the temperature-temperature angular correlations are extreme. Our analyses confirm a preferred axis in the CMB sphere, pointing in the direction $(l,b) \simeq (260^{\circ}, 130^{\circ})$, at the $98\% -99\%$ confidence level. In this direction, the CMB angular correlations exceed the antipodal direction most strongly. This preferred direction is unexpected in the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model and represents a significant deviation from results obtained by applying the same procedure to simulated statistically isotropic CMB maps. This result confirms the north-south asymmetry in the most recent Planck data. This phenomenon is one of the previously reported CMB anomalies. We performed a robust detection of the north-south asymmetry in the temperature-temperature angular correlations, with a slightly different statistical significance, in the four Planck foreground-cleaned CMB maps. Moreover, we performed consistency tests by adding foreground and noise, both Planck data products, to the CMB map we studied, and we also investigated and discarded possible bias in our method. After these detailed analyses, we conclude that the north-south asymmetry phenomenon is present with a high statistical significance in the Planck CMB maps we studied. This result confirms previous reports in the literature in the past 20 years.