Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published October 2016 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Planck 2015 results. XVII. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

Abstract

The Planck full mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and E-mode polarization maps are analysed to obtain constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). Using three classes of optimal bispectrum estimators – separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal – we obtain consistent values for the primordial local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes, quoting as our final result from temperature alone ƒ^(local)_(NL) = 2.5 ± 5.7, ƒ^(equil)_(NL)= -16 ± 70, , and ƒ^(ortho)_(NL) = -34 ± 32 (68% CL, statistical). Combining temperature and polarization data we obtain ƒ^(local)_(NL) = 0.8 ± 5.0, ƒ^(equil)_(NL)= -4 ± 43, and ƒ^(ortho)_(NL) = -26 ± 21 (68% CL, statistical). The results are based on comprehensive cross-validation of these estimators on Gaussian and non-Gaussian simulations, are stable across component separation techniques, pass an extensive suite of tests, and are consistent with estimators based on measuring the Minkowski functionals of the CMB. The effect of time-domain de-glitching systematics on the bispectrum is negligible. In spite of these test outcomes we conservatively label the results including polarization data as preliminary, owing to a known mismatch of the noise model in simulations and the data. Beyond estimates of individual shape amplitudes, we present model-independent, three-dimensional reconstructions of the Planck CMB bispectrum and derive constraints on early universe scenarios that generate primordial NG, including general single-field models of inflation, axion inflation, initial state modifications, models producing parity-violating tensor bispectra, and directionally dependent vector models. We present a wide survey of scale-dependent feature and resonance models, accounting for the "look elsewhere" effect in estimating the statistical significance of features. We also look for isocurvature NG, and find no signal, but we obtain constraints that improve significantly with the inclusion of polarization. The primordial trispectrum amplitude in the local model is constrained to be g^(local)_(NL) = (−9.0±7.7)×10^4 (68% CL statistical), and we perform an analysis of trispectrum shapes beyond the local case. The global picture that emerges is one of consistency with the premises of the ΛCDM cosmology, namely that the structure we observe today was sourced by adiabatic, passive, Gaussian, and primordial seed perturbations.

Additional Information

© 2016 ESO. Received: 6 February 2015; Accepted: 27 January 2016; Published online 20 September 2016. The Planck Collaboration acknowledges the support of: ESA; CNES and CNRS/INSU-IN2P3-INP (France); ASI, CNR, and INAF (Italy); NASA and DoE (USA); STFC and UKSA (UK); CSIC, MINECO, JA, and RES (Spain); Tekes, AoF, and CSC (Finland); DLR and MPG (Germany); CSA (Canada); DTU Space (Denmark); SER/SSO (Switzerland); RCN (Norway); SFI (Ireland); FCT/MCTES (Portugal); ERC and PRACE (EU). A description of the Planck Collaboration and a list of its members, indicating which technical or scientific activities they have been involved in, can be found at http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/planck/planck-collaboration. Some of the results in this paper have been derived using the HEALPix package. Part of this work was undertaken on the STFC COSMOS@DiRAC HPC Facility at the University of Cambridge, funded by UK BIS NEI grants. We gratefully acknowledge IN2P3 Computer Center (http://cc.in2p3.fr) for providing a significant amount of the computing resources and services needed for the analysis with the binned bispectrum estimator. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. We also acknowledge the IAP magique3 computer facilities. Some computations were performed on the GPC cluster at the SciNet HPC Consortium. SciNet is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation under the auspices of Compute Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the University of Toronto.

Attached Files

Published - aa25836-15.pdf

Submitted - 1502.01592v1.pdf

Files

1502.01592v1.pdf
Files (27.2 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:4044a90cea1be827b8998f2b179c54ac
11.2 MB Preview Download
md5:a480e73c875f48da6f63a7279e8b96c1
16.0 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023