Galaxy bispectrum, primordial non-Gaussianity and redshift space distortions

Matteo Tellarini, Ashley J. Ross, Gianmassimo Tasinato, David Wands

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Abstract

Measurements of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial density field have the power to considerably improve our understanding of the physics of inflation. Indeed, if we can increase the precision of current measurements by an order of magnitude, a null-detection would rule out many classes of scenarios for generating primordial fluctuations. Large-scale galaxy redshift surveys represent experiments that hold the promise to realise this goal. Thus, we model the galaxy bispectrum and forecast the accuracy with which it will probe the parameter fNL, which represents the degree of primordial local-type non Gaussianity. Specifically, we address the problem of modelling redshift space distortions (RSD) in the tree-level galaxy bispectrum including fNL. We find novel contributions associated with RSD, with the characteristic large scale amplification induced by local-type non-Gaussianity. These RSD effects must be properly accounted for in order to obtain un-biased measurements of fNL from the galaxy bispectrum. We propose an analytic template for the monopole which can be used to fit against data on large scales, extending models used in the recent measurements. Finally, we perform idealised forecasts on σfNL - the accuracy of the determination of local non-linear parameter fNL - from measurements of the galaxy bispectrum. Our findings suggest that current surveys can in principle provide fNL constraints competitive with Planck, and future surveys could improve them further.

Original languageEnglish
Article number014
JournalJournal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Volume2016
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • galaxy clusters
  • inflation
  • RCUK
  • STFC
  • ST/N001435/1
  • ST/K00090X/1
  • ST/L005573/1

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