title: Estimate of the cosmological bispectrum from the MAXIMA-1 cosmic microwave background map.
abstract: We use the measurement of the cosmic microwave background taken during the MAXIMA-1 flight to estimate the bispectrum of cosmological perturbations. We propose an estimator for the bispectrum that is appropriate in the flat sky approximation, apply it to the MAXIMA-1 data, and evaluate errors using bootstrap methods. We compare the estimated value with what would be expected if the sky signal were Gaussian and find that it is indeed consistent, with a chi(2) per degree of freedom of approximately unity. This measurement places constraints on models of inflation.
authors.affiliation: Astrophysics & Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balbi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borrill
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanany
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Jaffe
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magueijo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rabii
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Smoot
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stompor
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Winant
authors.forename: J H P
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wu