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  • Open Access

Skew spectra: A generalization to spin s

Alexander Roskill*, Sara Maleubre, David Alonso, and Pedro G. Ferreira

  • Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom

  • *Contact author: alexander.roskill@physics.ox.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 063563 – Published 25 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/25j2-lqsy

Abstract

Skew spectra allow us to extract non-Gaussian information by taking the square of a map and finding the power spectrum of this new map with the original map. This allows us to use much of the infrastructure of power spectra and avoid the intricacies of estimating three point statistics. In this paper we present the first extension of skew spectra to arbitrary spin-s fields, as a means to extract non-Gaussian information efficiently from cosmological datasets like cosmic shear or cosmic microwave background polarization. We apply the formalism to weak lensing in the context of large scale structure, and discuss different ways of combining fields to build skew spectra, all while avoiding the problems associated with mass mapping. We provide plots of these new statistics for Λ cold dark matter and vary cosmological parameters.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 063563– Published 25 March, 2026
  • Received 1 December 2025
  • Accepted 12 March 2026
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