Directional Variations of the Non-Gaussianity Parameter f_NL
We investigate local variations of the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter fNL in the WMAP data, looking for possible influence of foreground contamination in the full-sky estimate of fNL. We first improve the needlet bispectrum estimate in Rudjord et al. on the full sky to fNL = 73 ± 31 using the...
Published in: | The Astrophysical Journal |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2010
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2108/10353 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/708/2/1321 http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/708/2/1321 |
Summary: | We investigate local variations of the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter fNL in the WMAP data, looking for possible influence of foreground contamination in the full-sky estimate of fNL. We first improve the needlet bispectrum estimate in Rudjord et al. on the full sky to fNL = 73 ± 31 using the KQ75 mask on the co-added V + W channel. We find no particular values of fNL estimates close to the galactic plane and conclude that foregrounds are unlikely to affect the estimate of fNL in the V and W bands even for the smaller KQ85 mask. In the Q band, however, we find unexpectedly high values of fNL in local estimates close to the galactic mask, as well as significant discrepancies between Q-band estimates and V/W-band estimates. We therefore conclude that the Q band is too contaminated to be used for non-Gaussianity studies even with the larger KQ75 mask. We further note that the local fNL estimates on the V + W channel are positive on all equatorial bands from the north to the south pole. The probability for this to happen in a universe with fNL = 0 is less than 1%. |
---|