Search

We demonstrate an approach that allows separating two-point correlations created by a Gaussian random field from correlations created by cosmic foregrounds such as polarized dust emission, gravitational lensing and other non-Gaussian signals. The result of traditional approaches should typically be a 'foreground-cleaned' two-dimensional CMB map of the anisotropy or polarization. Our method does not create a clean map, but extracts the part of the two-point correlations, or equivalently the part of the power spectrum, which is due only to the Gaussian component of the observed signal produced by inflation., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure

We present a detailed test for Gaussianity of Planck polarization data using statistics of unpolarized points on the sky, i.e. such points where the linear polarization vanishes. The algorithm we propose for finding such points is stable and guarantees their 100% detection. Our approach allows us to analyze the data for Gaussianity of the signal at different angular scales and detect areas on the polarization maps with a significant contribution from unremoved non-Gaussian foregrounds. We found very strong deviations from Gaussianity for E and B modes in the observational data both over the entire sky and in some specific regions of the celestial sphere., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D