English

Non-Gaussianity and the CMB Bispectrum: confusion between Primordial and Lensing-Rees Sciama contribution?

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2009-12-09 v3

Abstract

We revisit the predictions for the expected Cosmic Microwave Background bispectrum signal from the primary-lensing-Rees-Sciama correlation; we point out that it can be a significant contaminant to the bispectrum signal from primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type. This non-Gaussianity, usually parameterized by the non-Gaussian parameter f_NL, arises, for example, in multi-field inflation. In particular both signals are frequency independent, and are maximized for nearly squeezed configurations. While their detailed scale-dependence and harmonic imprints are different for generic bispectrum shapes, we show that, if not included in the modeling, the primary-lensing-Rees-Sciama contribution yields an effective f_{NL} of 10 when using a bispectrum estimator optimized for local non-Gaussianity. Considering that expected 1-sigma errors on f_{NL} are < 10 from forthcoming experiments, we conclude that the contribution from this signal must be included in future constraints on f_{NL} from the Cosmic Microwave Background bispectrum.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0906.2317,
  title  = {Non-Gaussianity and the CMB Bispectrum: confusion between Primordial and Lensing-Rees Sciama contribution?},
  author = {Anna Mangilli and Licia Verde},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.2317},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

11 pages, 4 figures - Minor changes to match the published version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T13:12:46.990Z