Planck 2015 results XVI. Isotropy and statistics of the CMB
File(s)1506.07135v2.pdf (10.22 MB) aa26681-15.pdf (11.48 MB)
Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We test the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies using observations made by the Planck satellite. Our results are based mainly on the full Planck mission for temperature, but also include some polarization measurements. In particular, we consider the CMB anisotropy maps derived from the multi-frequency Planck data by several component-separation methods. For the temperature anisotropies, we find excellent agreement between results based on these sky maps over both a very large fraction of the sky and a broad range of angular scales, establishing that potential foreground residuals do not affect our studies. Tests of skewness, kurtosis, multi-normality, N-point functions, and Minkowski functionals indicate consistency with Gaussianity, while a power deficit at large angular scales is manifested in several ways, for example low map variance. The results of a peak statistics analysis are consistent with the expectations of a Gaussian random field. The "Cold Spot" is detected with several methods, including map kurtosis, peak statistics, and mean temperature profile. We thoroughly probe the large-scale dipolar power asymmetry, detecting it with several independent tests, and address the subject of a posteriori correction. Tests of directionality suggest the presence of angular clustering from large to small scales, but at a significance that is dependent on the details of the approach. We perform the first examination of polarization data, finding the morphology of stacked peaks to be consistent with the expectations of statistically isotropic simulations. Where they overlap, these results are consistent with the Planck 2013 analysis based on the nominal mission data and provide our most thorough view of the statistics of the CMB fluctuations to date.
Date Issued
2016-09-20
Date Acceptance
2015-09-07
Citation
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 2016, 594
ISSN
1432-0746
Publisher
EDP SCIENCES S A
Start Page
A16
Journal / Book Title
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Volume
594
Copyright Statement
©ESO 2016
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000385832200023&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
cosmology: observations
cosmic background radiation
polarization
methods: data analysis
methods: statistical
MICROWAVE-ANISOTROPY-PROBE
OBSERVATIONS COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
PRIMORDIAL NON-GAUSSIANITY
5-YEAR WMAP DATA
COLD SPOT
BACKGROUND ANISOTROPY
SKY MAPS
MINKOWSKI FUNCTIONALS
SPHERICAL WAVELETS
POWER ASYMMETRY
Notes
Paper XVI of the Planck 2015 release. This is the version accepted by A&A. An additional section discussing the sensitivity of various anomalies to sky coverage has been included
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN Al6