  Some analyses of recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) data have provided
hints that there are deviations from Gaussianity in the WMAP CMB temperature
fluctuations. Given the far reaching consequences of such a non-Gaussianity for
our understanding of the physics of the early universe, it is important to
employ alternative indicators in order to determine whether the reported
non-Gaussianity is of cosmological origin, and/or extract further information
that may be helpful for identifying its causes. We propose two new
non-Gaussianity indicators, based on skewness and kurtosis of large-angle
patches of CMB maps, which provide a measure of departure from Gaussianity on
large angular scales. A distinctive feature of these indicators is that they
provide sky maps of non-Gaussianity of the CMB temperature data, thus allowing
a possible additional window into their origins. Using these indicators, we
find no significant deviation from Gaussianity in the three and five-year WMAP
ILC map with KQ75 mask, while the ILC unmasked map exhibit deviation from
Gaussianity, quantifying therefore the WMAP team recommendation to employ the
new mask KQ75 for tests of Gaussianity. We also use our indicators to test for
Gaussianity the single frequency foreground unremoved WMAP three and five-year
maps, and show that the K and Ka maps exhibit clear indication of deviation
from Gaussianity even with the KQ75 mask. We show that our findings are robust
with respect to the details of the method.
