Primordial Non-Gaussianity Estimation using 21 cm Tomography from the Epoch of Reionization

Abstract

Measuring the small primordial nonGaussianity (PNG) predicted by cosmic inflation theories may help diagnose them. The detectability of PNG by its imprint on the 21cm power spectrum from the epoch of reionization is reassessed here in terms of $f_{NL}$, the local nonlinearity parameter. We find that an optimum, multi-frequency observation by SKA can achieve $\Delta f_{NL} \sim 3$ (comparable to recent Planck CMB limits), while a cosmic-variance-limited array of this size like Omniscope can even detect $\Delta f_{NL} \sim 0.2$. This substantially revises the methods and results of previous work.