Non-Gaussianity from Large-Scale Structure Surveys

• Main Author: Licia Verde
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2010-01-01
• Series: Advances in Astronomy
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/768675

With the advent of galaxy surveys which provide large samples of galaxies or galaxy clusters over a volume comparable to the horizon size (SDSS-III, HETDEX, Euclid, JDEM, LSST, Pan-STARRS, CIP, etc.) or mass-selected large cluster samples over a large fraction of the extra-galactic sky (Planck, SPT, ACT, CMBPol, B-Pol), it is timely to investigate what constraints these surveys can impose on primordial non-Gaussianity. I illustrate here three different approaches: higher-order correlations of the three dimensional galaxy distribution, abundance of rare objects (extrema of the density distribution), and the large-scale clustering of halos (peaks of the density distribution). Each of these avenues has its own advantages, but, more importantly, these approaches are highly complementary under many respects.