A survey of lens spaces and large-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy possesses the remarkable property that its power is strongly suppressed on large angular scales. This observational fact can naturally be explained by cosmological models with a non-trivial topology. The paper focuses on lens spaces L(p, q) which are realized by a tessellation of the spherical three-space by cyclic deck groups of order p= 72. The investigated cosmological parameter space covers the interval Otot? [1.001, 1.05]. Several spaces are found which have CMB correlations on angular scales ?= 60 degrees suppressed by a factor of 2 compared to the simply connected space. The analysis is based on the S statistics, and a comparison to the 7-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data is carried out. Although the CMB suppression is less pronounced than in the Poincare dodecahedral space, these lens spaces provide an alternative worth for follow-up studies.