Multiple methods for estimating the bispectrum of the cosmic microwave background with application to the MAXIMA data

M. G. Santos*, A. Heavens, A. Balbi, J. Borrill, P. G. Ferreira, S. Hanany, A. H. Jaffe, A. T. Lee, B. Rabii, P. L. Richards, G. F. Smoot, R. Stompor, C. D. Winant, J. H.P. Wu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Articlepeer-review

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We describe different methods for estimating the bispectrum of cosmic microwave background data. In particular, we construct a minimum-variance estimator for the flat-sky limit and compare results with previously studied frequentist methods. Application to the MAXIMA data set shows consistency with primordial Gaussianity. Weak quadratic non-Gaussianity is characterized by a tunable parameter fNL, corresponding to non-Gaussianity at a level of ∼10-5 fNL (the ratio of non-Gaussian to Gaussian terms), and we find limits of fNL = 1500 ± 950 for the minimum-variance estimator and fNL = 2700 ± 1650 for the usual frequentist estimator. These are the tightest limits on primordial non-Gaussianity, which include the full effects of the radiation transfer function.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)623-643
Number of pages21
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume341
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 May 2003
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cosmic microwave background
  • Early universe
  • Methods: Data analysis
  • Methods: Statistical

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