CORRELATION OF EXCURSION SETS FOR NON-GAUSSIAN COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTIONS

We present a method, based on the correlation function of excursion se ts above a given threshold, to test the Gaussianity of the cosmic micr owave background (CMB) temperature fluctuations in the sky. In particu lar, this method can be applied to discriminate between standard infla tionary scenarios and those producing non-Gaussianity such as topologi cal defects. We have obtained the normalized correlation of excursion sets, including different levels of noise, for two-point probability d ensity functions constructed from the Gaussian, chi(n)(2), and Laplace one-point probability density functions in two different ways. Consid ering subdegree angular scales, we find that this method can distingui sh between different distributions even if the corresponding marginal probability density functions and/or the radiation power spectra are t he same.