NON-GAUSSIAN EFFECTS IN THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND FROM INFLATION

The presence of non-Gaussian features in the cosmic microwave backgrou nd (CMB) radiation maps represents one of the most long-awaited clues in the search for the actual structure of primordial radiation, still needing confirmation. These features could shed some light on the nont rivial task of distinguishing the real source of the primeval perturba tions leading to large scale structure. One of the simplest non-Gaussi an signals to search is the (dimensionless) skewness S. Explicit compu tations for S are presented in the frame of physically motivated infla tionary models (natural, intermediate, and polynomial potential inflat ion) in the hope of finding values in agreement with estimated quantit ies from large angle scale (e.g., COBE DMR) maps. In all the cases con sidered the non-Gaussian effects turn out to lie below the level of th eoretical uncertainty (cosmic variance). The possibility of unveiling the signal for S with multiple-field models is also discussed.