Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity from WMAP7 and Luminous Red Galaxies power spectrum and forecast for future surveys

TL;DR

This paper constrains the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter f_NL using WMAP7 and galaxy data, modeling galaxy bias with the halo model, and forecasts future survey capabilities for detecting f_NL.

Contribution

It provides new constraints on f_NL from current data and forecasts the potential of future surveys like EUCLID and Planck to detect primordial non-Gaussianity.

Findings

WMAP7 and SDSS data constrain f_NL to approximately 171±140.

Including additional data tightens bounds to -35<f_NL<+479.

Future surveys could detect f_NL as low as 5.

Abstract

We place new constraints on the primordial local non-Gaussianity parameter f_NL using recent Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy and galaxy clustering data. We model the galaxy power spectrum according to the halo model, accounting for a scale dependent bias correction proportional to f_NL/k^2. We first constrain f_NL in a full 13 parameters analysis that includes 5 parameters of the halo model and 7 cosmological parameters. Using the WMAP7 CMB data and the SDSS DR4 galaxy power spectrum, we find f_NL=171\pm+140 at 68% C.L. and -69<f_NL<+492 at 95% C.L.. We discuss the degeneracies between f_NL and other cosmological parameters. Including SN-Ia data and priors on H_0 from Hubble Space Telescope observations we find a stronger bound: -35<f_NL<+479 at 95% C.L.. We also fit the more recent SDSS DR7 halo power spectrum data finding, for a \Lambda-CDM+f_NL model, f_NL=-93\pm128 at 68% C.L. and -327<f_{NL}<+177 at 95% C.L.. We finally forecast the constraints on f_NL from future surveys as EUCLID and from CMB missions as Planck showing that their combined analysis could detect f_NL\sim 5.