General CMB bispectrum analysis using wavelets and separable modes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a combined wavelet and modal approach for analyzing the CMB bispectrum, enabling efficient and robust constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity with applications to upcoming surveys.

Contribution

It develops a novel method merging wavelet and modal techniques for CMB bispectrum analysis, improving computational efficiency and robustness over previous methods.

Findings

Applied to WMAP7 data, obtained constraints on local and equilateral non-Gaussianity.

Demonstrated near-optimal error bars in bispectrum estimation.

Validated robustness and efficacy of the combined approach.

Abstract

In this paper we combine partial-wave (`modal') methods with a wavelet analysis of the CMB bispectrum. Our implementation exploits the advantages of both approaches to produce robust, reliable and efficient estimators which can constrain the amplitude of arbitrary primordial bispectra. This will be particularly important for upcoming surveys such as \emph{Planck}. A key advantage is the computational efficiency of calculating the inverse covariance matrix in wavelet space, producing an error bar which is close to optimal. We verify the efficacy and robustness of the method by applying it to WMAP7 data, finding $\fnllocal=38.4\pm 23.6$ and $\fnlequil=-119.2\pm123.6$.