Non-Gaussian effects in the cosmic microwave background from inflation

The presence of non-Gaussian features in the cosmic microwave background (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 nontrivial task of distinguishing the real souce of the primeval perturbations leading to large scale structure. One of the simplest non-Gaussian signals to search is the (dimensionless) skewness scrS. Explicit computations for scrS are presented in the frame of physically motivated inflationary models (natural, intermediate, and polynomial potential inflation) in the hope of finding values in agreement with estimated quantities from large angle scale (e.g., COBE DMR) maps. In all the cases considered the non-Gaussian effects turn out to lie below the level of theoretical uncertainty (cosmic variance). The possibility of unveiling the signal for scrS with multiple-field models is also discussed.