The Kullback-Leibler divergence as an estimator of the statistical properties of CMB maps
- Niels Bohr International Academy, The Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø (Denmark)
- Discovery Center, The Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø (Denmark)
The identification of unsubtracted foreground residuals in the cosmic microwave background maps on large scales is of crucial importance for the analysis of polarization signals. These residuals add a non-Gaussian contribution to the data. We propose the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence as an effective, non-parametric test on the one-point probability distribution function of the data. With motivation in information theory, the KL divergence takes into account the entire range of the distribution and is highly non-local. We demonstrate its use by analyzing the large scales of the Planck 2013 SMICA temperature fluctuation map and find it consistent with the expected distribution at a level of 6%. Comparing the results to those obtained using the more popular Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, we find the two methods to be in general agreement.
- OSTI ID:
- 22525747
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 06; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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