The CMB Bispectrum

Abstract: We use a separable mode expansion estimator with WMAP data to estimate the bispectrum for all the primary families of non-Gaussian models. We review the late-time mode expansion estimator methodology which can be applied to any non-separable primordial and CMB bispectrum model, and we demonstrate how the method can be used to reconstruct the CMB bispectrum from an observational map. We extend the previous validation of the general estimator using local map simulations. We apply the estimator to the coadded WMAP 5-year data, reconstructing the WMAP bispectrum using $l<500$ multipoles and $n=31$ orthonormal 3D eigenmodes. We constrain all popular nearly scale-invariant models, ensuring that the theoretical bispectrum is well-described by a convergent mode expansion. Constraints from the local model $ \fnl=54.4\pm 29.4$ and the equilateral model $\fnl=143.5\pm 151.2$ ($\Fnl = 25.1\pm 26.4$) are consistent with previously published results. (Here, we use a nonlinearity parameter $\Fnl$ normalised to the local case, to allow more direct comparison between different models.) Notable new constraints from our method include those for the constant model $\Fnl = 35.1 \pm 27.4 $, the flattened model $\Fnl = 35.4\pm 29.2$, and warm inflation $\Fnl = 10.3\pm 27.2$. We investigate feature models surveying a wide parameter range in both the scale and phase, and we find no significant evidence of non-Gaussianity in the models surveyed. We propose a measure $\barFnl$ for the total integrated bispectrum and find that the measured value is consistent with the null hypothesis that CMB anisotropies obey Gaussian statistics. We argue that this general bispectrum survey with the WMAP data represents the best evidence for Gaussianity to date and we discuss future prospects, notably from the Planck satellite.