Open AccessDo wavelets really detect non‐Gaussianity in the 4‐year COBE data?
Author(s) -
Mukherjee P.,
Hobson M. P.,
Lasenby A. N.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2000.03800.x
Subject(s) - physics , kurtosis , wavelet , skewness , non gaussianity , monte carlo method , statistical physics , scale (ratio) , gaussian , astrophysics , statistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , optics , cosmic microwave background , anisotropy , quantum mechanics , computer science
We investigate the detection of non‐Gaussianity in the 4‐year COBE data reported by Pando, Valls‐Gabaud & Fang, using a technique based on the discrete wavelet transform. Their analysis was performed on the two DMR faces centred on the North and South Galactic poles, respectively, using the Daubechies 4 wavelet basis. We show that these results depend critically on the orientation of the data, and so should be treated with caution. For two distinct orientations of the data, we calculate estimates of the skewness, kurtosis and scale–scale correlation of the corresponding wavelet coefficients in all of the available scale domains of the transform. We obtain several detections of non‐Gaussianity in the DMR‐DSMB map at greater than the 99 per cent confidence level, but most of these occur on pixel–pixel scales and are therefore not cosmological in origin. Indeed, after removing all multipoles beyond ℓ=40 from the COBE maps, only one robust detection remains. Moreover, using Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the probability of obtaining such a detection by chance is 0.59. We repeat the analysis for the 53+90 GHz coadded COBE map. In this case, after removing ℓ>40 multipoles, two non‐Gaussian detections at the 99 per cent level remain. Nevertheless, again using Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the probability of obtaining two such detections by chance is 0.28. Thus, we conclude the wavelet technique does not yield strong evidence for non‐Gaussianity of cosmological origin in the 4‐year COBE data.