Planck 2013 results. XXIV. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

Abstract

The Planck nominal mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps yield unprecedented constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). Using three optimal bispectrum estimators, separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal, we obtain consistent values for the primordial local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes, quoting as our final result [Equation, see Abstract on pdf download – Ed.]. Non-Gaussianity is detected in the data; using skew-C` statistics we find a nonzero bispectrum from residual point sources, and the integrated-Sachs-Wolfe-lensing bispectrum at a level expected in the _CDM scenario. The results are based on comprehensive crossvalidation of these estimators on Gaussian and non-Gaussian simulations, are stable across component separation techniques, pass an extensive suite of tests, and are confirmed by skew-C`, wavelet bispectrum and Minkowski functional estimators. Beyond estimates of individual shape amplitudes, we present model-independent, three-dimensional reconstructions of the Planck CMB bispectrum and thus derive constraints on early-Universe scenarios that generate primordial NG, including general single-field models of inflation, excited initial states (non-Bunch-Davies vacua), and directionally-dependent vector models. We provide an initial survey of scale-dependent feature and resonance models. These results bound both general single-field and multi-field model parameter ranges, such as the speed of sound, cs _ 0:02 (95% CL), in an effective field theory parametrization, and the curvaton decay fraction rD _ 0:15 (95% CL). The Planck data significantly limit the viable parameter space of the ekpyrotic/cyclic scenarios. The amplitude of the four-point function in the local model _NL < 2800 (95% CL). Taken together, these constraints represent the highest precision tests to date of physical mechanisms for the origin of cosmic structure.