GAUSSIAN STATISTICS OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND - CORRELATION OF TEMPERATURE EXTREMA IN THE COBE DMR 2-YEAR SKY MAPS

We use the two-point correlation function of the extrema points (peaks and valleys) in the COBE Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) 2 y ear sky maps as a test for non-Gaussian temperature distribution in th e cosmic microwave background anisotropy. A maximum-likelihood analysi s compares the DMR data to n = 1 toy models whose random-phase spheric al harmonic components a(lm) are drawn from either Gaussian, chi(2), o r log-normal parent populations. The likelihood of the 53 GHz (A+B)/2 data is greatest for the exact Gaussian model. There is less than 10% chance that the non-Gaussian models tested describe the DMR data, limi ted primarily by type II errors in the statistical inference. The extr ema correlation function is a stronger test for this class of non-Gaus sian models than topological statistics such as the genus.