GAUSSIAN NATURE OF THE COBE DATA FROM MULTIPOINT CORRELATIONS

Important information about the early universe can be obtained from a study of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) in the microwave range. We study high-order correlation and structure functions of temperatur e fluctuations collected from the first two years of Differential Micr owave Radiometer (DMR) observations from the Cosmic Background Explore r (COBE) satellite. The intent is to determine whether the radiation d ata possess significant deviations from Gaussianity. The most difficul t problem in drawing meaningful conclusions is the presence of instrum ental noise, which is quite strong even after a two-year averaging has been performed. We have taken into account the noise in various ways. Within the limitations imposed by the noise, our study shows that the fluctuations are quite likely to be Gaussian-like. The results can, t herefore, be said to favor the inflation scenario of the universe.