Fluctuations of the microwave background radiation on large and intermediate angular scales

The microwave background anisotropies are estimated for different types of spectra of initial perturbations. Results are presented for multipoles from l = 2 (the quadrupole) to l = 100. We take into account the Sachs-Wolfe and Doppler effects, but treat the recombination as instantaneous, which is a reasonable approximation for multipoles l 2ᵈeg^). Measurements of AT/T anisotropies on angular scales θ~2ᵈeg^-3ᵈeg^ and larger are necessary for discrimination between different inflationary models, which predict a variety of shapes for the spectrum of initial fluctuations.