A new analysis of the Poincare dodecahedral space model

Context. The full three- year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe results ( hereafter WMAP3) reinforce the absence of large- angle correlations at scales greater than 60 degrees. The Poincare dodecahedral space model, which may naturally explain such features, thus remains a plausible cosmological model, despite recent controversy about whether matched circle searches would or would not push the topology beyond the horizon. Aims. We have used new eigenmode calculations of the dodecahedral space to predict the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies in such a model, with an improved angular resolution. Methods. We have simulated CMB maps and exhibited the expected self intersection of the last scattering surface along six pairs of circles. For a set of plausible cosmological parameters, we have derived the angular power spectrum of the CMB up to large wavenumbers. Results. Comparison of the angular power spectrum with the WMAP3 observations leads to an optimal fit with the Poincare dodecahedral space model, for a value Omega(tot) = 1.018 of the total energy density parameter.