SIToolBox : A package for Bayesian estimation of the isotropy violation in the CMB sky

TL;DR

SIToolBox is a software package that extends Bayesian methods to detect and analyze isotropy violations in the CMB sky, accounting for realistic anisotropic noise and masking effects.

Contribution

The paper introduces SIToolBox, a new software tool that enhances Bayesian estimation of isotropy violations in the CMB, including anisotropic noise and masking effects.

Findings

Successfully estimates SI violation signals with anisotropic noise.

Handles masking effects in CMB data analysis.

Provides a practical tool for cosmological data analysis.

Abstract

The standard model of cosmology predicts a statistically isotropic (SI) CMB sky. However, the SI violation signals are always present in an observed sky-map. Different cosmological artifacts, measurement effects and unavoidable effects during data analysis etc. may lead to isotropy violation in an otherwise SI sky. Therefore, a proper data analysis technique should calculate all these SI violation signals, so that they can be matched with SI violation signals from the known sources and then conclude if there is any intrinsic SI violation in the CMB sky. In one of our recent works, we presented a general Bayesian formalism for measuring the isotropy violation signals in the CMB sky in presence of an idealized isotropic noise. In this paper, we have extended the mechanism and develop a software package, SIToolBox, for measuring SI violation in presence of anisotropic noise and masking.