We have simulated cosmic microwave background ( CMB ) anisotropy maps for several COBE -DMR-normalized cold dark matter ( CDM ) cosmogonies , to make predictions for the MAP experiment , an upcoming whole-sky CMB anisotropy space mission .
We have studied the sensitivity of the simulated MAP data to cosmology , sky coverage , and instrumental noise .
Given an accurate knowledge of instrumental noise , MAP data will ably discriminate amongst the cosmogonies considered , and superbly determine the topology of the initial fluctuations .

A correlation function analysis of the simulated MAP data results in a very accurate measurement of the acoustic Hubble radius at decoupling .
A low-density open CDM model with \Omega _ { 0 } = 0.4 can be distinguished from the \Omega _ { 0 } = 1 fiducial CDM model or a spatially-flat CDM model with a cosmological constant and \Omega _ { 0 } = 0.4 with more than 99 % confidence from the location of the acoustic “ valley ” in the correlation function .

A genus analysis of the simulated MAP data indicates that in cosmogonies with Gaussian random-phase initial conditions , the horizontal shift of the zero-crossing point of the genus curve near the mean temperature threshold level \nu = 0 should not exceed | \Delta \nu| = 0.01 ( 0.04 ) when the total effective FWHM smoothing is 0.3 { { } ^ { \circ } } ( 1.0 { { } ^ { \circ } } ) .
The asymmetry of the genus curve at the positive and negative threshold levels should not exceed | \Delta g / g ( \nu = \pm 1 ) | = 0.8 \% ( 4 % ) at 0.3 { { } ^ { \circ } } ( 1 { { } ^ { \circ } } ) FWHM smoothing .
Deviations of the observed MAP data in excess of these small values will be evidence for non-Gaussian behavior .

The amplitude of the genus curve is a measure of the shape of the power spectrum at the smoothing scale .
Even with the expected amount of instrumental noise and partial sky coverage ( due to the Galaxy ) , the MAP data should allow discrimination amongst the cosmogonies considered at more than 99 % confidence solely from a genus amplitude analysis .