The axis of evil - a polarization perspective
  We search for an unusual alignment of the preferred axes of the quadrupole
and octopole, the so-called axis of evil, in the CMB temperature and
polarization data from WMAP. We use the part of the polarization map which is
uncorrelated with the temperature map as a statistically independent probe of
the axis of evil, which helps to assess whether the latter has a cosmological
origin or if is a mere chance fluctuation in the temperature. Note, though,
that for certain models creating a preferred axis in the temperature map, we
would not expect to see the axis in the uncorrelated polarization map. We find
that the axis of the quadrupole of the uncorrelated polarization map roughly
aligns with the axis of evil within our measurement precision, whereas the axis
of the octopole does not. However, with our measurement uncertainty, the
probability of such a scenario to happen by chance in an isotropic universe is
of the order of 50 per cent. We also find that the so-called cold spot present
in the CMB temperature map is even colder in the part of the temperature map
which is uncorrelated with the polarization, although there is still a large
uncertainty in the latter. Therefore, our analysis of the axis of evil and a
future analysis of the cold spot in the uncorrelated temperature data will
strongly benefit from the polarization data expected from the Planck satellite.
