Correlation of excursion sets for non-Gaussian cosmic microwave background temperature distributions |
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| Authors: | R B Barreiro J L Sanz E Martínez-González & J Silk |
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| Institution: | Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-UC), Facultad de Ciencias, Av. de Los Castros s/n, Santander 39005, Spain,;Departamento de Física Moderna, Universidad de Cantabria, Facultad de Ciencias, Av. de Los Castros s/n, Santander 39005, Spain,;Astronomy Department and Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
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| Abstract: | We present a method, based on the correlation function of excursion sets above a given threshold, to test the Gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations in the sky. In particular, this method can be applied to discriminate between standard inflationary scenarios and those producing non-Gaussianity such as topological defects. We have obtained the normalized correlation of excursion sets, including different levels of noise, for two-point probability density functions constructed from the Gaussian, χ2 n and Laplace one-point probability density functions in two different ways. Considering subdegree angular scales, we find that this method can distinguish between different distributions even if the corresponding marginal probability density functions and/or the radiation power spectra are the same. |
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| Keywords: | methods: statistical cosmic microwave background |
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