Constraining the WMAP9 bispectrum and trispectrum with needlets

Abstract

We develop a needlet approach to estimate the amplitude of general (including non-separable) bispectra and trispectra in the cosmic microwave background, and apply this to the WMAP 9-year data. We obtain estimates for the `orthogonal' bispectrum mode, yielding results which are consistent with the WMAP 7-year data. We do not observe the frequency-dependence suggested by the WMAP team's analysis of the 9-year data. We present 1-$\sigma$ constraints on the `local' trispectrum shape $\gnl/10^5= -4.1\pm 2.3$, the `$c1$' equilateral model $\gnl^{c_1}/10^6= -0.8\pm 2.9$, and the constant model $\gnl^{\rm{const}}/10^6= -0.2\pm 1.8$, together with a $95\%$ confidence-level upper bound on the multifield local parameter $\taunl<22000$. We estimate the bias on these parameters produced by point sources. The techniques developed in this paper should prove useful for other datasets such as Planck.