Improved CMB Map from WMAP Data
  The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps published by the
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) team are found to be inconsistent
with the differential time-ordered data (TOD), from which the maps are
reconstructed. The inconsistency indicates that there is a serious problem in
the map making routine of the WMAP team, and it is necessary to reprocess the
WMAP data. We develop a self-consistent software package of map-making and
power spectrum estimation independently of the WMAP team. Our software passes a
variety of tests. New CMB maps are then reconstructed, which are significantly
different from the official WMAP maps. In the new maps, the inconsistency
disappeared, along with the hitherto unexplained high level alignment between
the CMB quadrupole and octopole components detected in released WMAP maps. An
improved CMB cross-power spectrum is then derived from the new maps which
better agrees with that of BOOMRANG. Two important results are hence obtained:
the CMB quadrupole drops to nearly zero, and the power in multiple moment range
between 200 and 675 decreases on average by about 13%, causing the best-fit
cosmological parameters to change considerably, e.g., the total matter density
increases from 0.26 up to 0.32 and the dark energy density decreases from 0.74
down to 0.68. These new parameters match with improved accuracy those of other
independent experiments. Our results indicate that there is still room for
significant revision in the cosmological model parameters.
