Related papers: The non-Gaussian Cold Spot in the 3-year WMAP data

This paper presents a frequentist analysis of the hot and cold spots of the cosmic microwave background data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). We compare the WMAP temperature statistics of extrema (number of…

We reassess the evidence that WMAP temperature maps contain a statistically significant "cold spot" by repeating the analysis using simple circular top-hat (disk) weights, as well as Gaussian weights of varying width. Contrary to previous…

We investigate claims of excess ellipticity of hot and cold spots in the WMAP data (Gurzadyan et al. 2005, 2007). Using the cosmic microwave background data from 7 years of observations by the WMAP satellite, we find, contrary to previous…

We use the local curvature to investigate the possible existence of non-Gaussianity/asymmetry in the WMAP data. Considering the full sky we find results which are consistent with the Gaussian assumption. However, strong non-Gaussian…

We repeat the directional spherical real Morlet wavelet analysis, used to detect non-Gaussianity in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) 1-year and 3-year data (McEwen et al. 2005, 2006a), on the WMAP 5-year data. The…

Motivated by the success of the Bianchi VII_h model in addressing many of the anomalies observed in the WMAP data (Jaffe et al.), we present calculations in real and in wavelet space of the Higher Criticism statistic of the Bianchi…

Local scaling properties of the co-added foreground-cleaned three-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data are estimated using weighted scaling indices. The scaling index method (SIM) is - for the first time - adapted and…

We look for a non-Gaussian signal in the WMAP 5-year temperature anisotropy maps by performing a needlet-based data analysis. We use the foreground-reduced maps obtained by the WMAP team through the optimal combination of the W, V and Q…

We continue the analysis of non-Gaussianities in the CMB by means of the scaling index method (SIM, Raeth, Schuecker & Banday 2007) by applying this method on the 5-year WMAP data. We compare each of the results with 1000 Monte Carlo…

We constrain the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter of the local model f_{NL} using the skewness power spectrum associated with the two-to-one cumulant correlator of cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. This…

Recent results of the ESA Planck satellite have confirmed the existence of some anomalies in the statistical distribution of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. One of the most intriguing anomalies is the Cold Spot, firstly…

The statistical properties of the temperature anisotropies and polarization of the of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation offer a powerful probe of the physics of the early universe. In recent works a statistical procedure based…

We present evidence for the detection of primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type (fNL), using the temperature information of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the WMAP 3-year data. We employ the bispectrum estimator of…

A detection or nondetection of primordial non-Gaussianity in the CMB data is essential not only to test alternative models of the physics of the early universe but also to discriminate among classes of inflationary models. Given this far…

The cosmic microwave background radiation is supposed to be Gaussian and this hypothesis is in good agreement with the recent very accurate measurements. Nonetheless a tiny amount of non-Gaussianity is predicted by the standard inflation…

We detect a dip of 20-45% in the surface brightness and number counts of NVSS sources smoothed to a few degrees at the location of the WMAP cold spot. The dip has structure on scales of approximately 1-10 degrees. Together with independent…

We investigate the abundance of large-scale hot and cold spots in the WMAP-5 temperature maps and find considerable discrepancies compared to Gaussian simulations based on the LCDM best-fit model. Too few spots are present in the reliably…

We investigate the detection of non-Gaussianity in the 4-year COBE data reported by Pando, Valls-Gabaud & Fang (1998), using a technique based on the discrete wavelet transform. Their analysis was performed on the two DMR faces centred on…

We present limits to the amplitude of non-Gaussian primordial fluctuations in the WMAP 1-year cosmic microwave background sky maps. A non-linear coupling parameter, f_NL, characterizes the amplitude of a quadratic term in the primordial…

We develop a method to constrain the level of non-Gaussianity of density perturbations when the 3-point function is of the "equilateral" type. Departures from Gaussianity of this form are produced by single field models such as ghost or DBI…