Non-linear Data Analysis on the Sphere: The Quest for Anomalies in the Cosmic Microwave Background

This work deals with the search for signatures of non-Gaussianities in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Probing Gaussianity in the CMB addresses one of the key questions in modern cosmology because it allows us to discriminate between different models of inflation, and thus concerns a fundamental part of the standard cosmological model.
The basic goal here is to adapt complementary methods stemming from the field of complexity science to CMB data analysis. Two key concepts, namely the...