Related papers: Phase Mapping as a Powerful Diagnostic of Primordi…
We derive a fast way for measuring primordial non-Gaussianity in a nearly full-sky map of the cosmic microwave background. We find a cubic combination of sky maps combining bispectrum configurations to capture a quadratic term in primordial…
Gaussian cosmic microwave background skies are fully specified by the power spectrum. The conventional method of characterizing non-Gaussian skies is to evaluate higher order moments, the n-point functions and their Fourier transforms. We…
The most direct probe of non-Gaussian initial conditions has come from bispectrum measurements of temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background and of the matter and galaxy distribution at large scales. Such bispectrum…
We introduce an exact Bayesian approach to search for non-Gaussianity of local type in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation data. Using simulated CMB temperature maps, the newly developed technique is compared against the…
We address the dual challenge of estimating deviations from Gaussianity arising in models of the Early Universe, whilst retaining information necessary to assess whether a detection of non-Gaussianity is primordial. We do this by…
In this paper we propose a new statistic capable of detecting non-Gaussianity in the CMB. The statistic is defined in Fourier space, and therefore naturally separates angular scales. It consists of taking another Fourier transform, in…
The identification of non-Gaussian signatures in cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature maps is one of the main cosmological challenges today. We propose and investigate altenative methods to analyse CMB maps. Using the technique of…
A detection or nondetection of primordial non-Gaussianity by using the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) offers a way of discriminating inflationary scenarios and testing alternative models of the early universe. This has…
We introduce a general class of models for charaterizing the non-Gaussian properties of foreground contaminants in the cosmic microwave background with view towards the removal of the non-primordial non-Gaussian signal from the primordial…
We study the statistical properties of spherical harmonic modes of temperature maps of the cosmic microwave background. Unlike other studies, which focus mainly on properties of the amplitudes of these modes, we look instead at their…
We propose a new general method of extracting non-Gaussian features in a given field. It sets the mean of the field to zero and renormalizes its Fourier (or multipole) power to white noise, while keeping the phase information unchanged.…
In the standard picture of structure formation, initially random-phase fluctuations are amplified by non-linear gravitational instability to produce a final distribution of mass which is highly non-Gaussian and has highly coupled Fourier…
Here we review the present status of modelling of and searching for primordial non-Gaussianity of cosmological perturbations. After introducing the models for non-Gaussianity generation during inflation, we discuss the search for…
Two recent papers have claimed detection of non-Gaussian features in the COBE DMR sky maps of the cosmic microwave background. We confirm these results, but argue that Gaussianity is still not convincingly ruled out. Since a score of…
Gaussianity is the very base for derivation of the cosmological parameters from the CMB angular power spectrum. Non-Gaussian signal, whether originated from experimental error or primordial source, could mimic extra power in the power…
Cosmic microwave background observations are most commonly analyzed by estimating the power spectrum. In the limit where the CMB statistics are perfectly Gaussian, this extracts all the information, but the CMB also contains detectable…
In the standard paradigm for cosmological structure formation, clustering develops from initially random-phase (Gaussian) density fluctuations in the early Universe by a process of gravitational instability. The later, non-linear stages of…
We provide the gauge-invariant expression for large-scale cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations at second-order in perturbation theory. It enables to unambiguously define the nonlinearity parameter f_NL which is used by…
The presence of non--Gaussian features in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation maps represents one of the most long--awaited clues in the search for the actual structure of the primordial radiation, still needing confirmation.…
We propose a set of new statistics which can be extracted out of the angular distribution of the Fourier transform of the temperature anisotropies in the small field limit. They quantify generic non-Gaussian structure and complement the…