We show how estimates of parameters characterizing inflation-based theories of structure formation localized over the past year when large scale structure ( LSS ) information from galaxy and cluster surveys was combined with the rapidly developing cosmic microwave background ( CMB ) data , especially from the recent Boomerang and Maxima balloon experiments .
All current CMB data plus a relatively weak prior probability on the Hubble constant , age and LSS points to little mean curvature ( \Omega _ { tot } = 1.08 \pm 0.06 ) and nearly scale invariant initial fluctuations ( n _ { s } = 1.03 \pm 0.08 ) , both predictions of ( non-baroque ) inflation theory .
We emphasize the role that degeneracy among parameters in the L _ { pk } = 212 \pm 7 position of the ( first acoustic ) peak plays in defining the \Omega _ { tot } range upon marginalization over other variables .
Though the CDM density is in the expected range ( \Omega _ { cdm } { h } ^ { 2 } = 0.17 \pm 0.02 ) , the baryon density \Omega _ { b } { h } ^ { 2 } = 0.030 \pm 0.005 is somewhat above the independent 0.019 \pm 0.002 nucleosynthesis estimates .
CMB+LSS gives independent evidence for dark energy ( \Omega _ { \Lambda } = 0.66 \pm 0.06 ) at the same level as from supernova ( SN1 ) observations , with a phenomenological quintessence equation of state limited by SN1+CMB+LSS to w _ { Q } < -0.7 cf .
the w _ { Q } = -1 cosmological constant case .