Non-gaussianity from large-scale structure surveys

Abstract

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. Copyright © 2010 Licia Verde.