Probing the High-Redshift Universe Using Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave and Infrared Backgrounds

Background (CIB) continues to be one of the best probes of physics at the early stages of the universe. If the CMB were a purely Gaussian field, all statistical information would be contained in the power spectrum or two-point correlation function. However, non-Gaussianities ensure that new physics may be extracted from higher n-point correlation functions including the bispectrum and trispectrum of the CMB. In this thesis discuss new estimators we have formulated to probe primordial non-Gaussianity in the bispectrum and trispectrum of CMB data and the constraints we have made using WMAP data while discussing implications for inflationary models. I discuss how these same methods may be used to probe CMB Lensing. Finally, I discuss how upcoming measurements of near and far-infrared CIB fluctuations may be used to constrain the redshift of reionization and clustering of various populations of galaxies. Some preliminary results involving CANDELS, Spitzer SDWFS, CIBER and Herschel datasets is presented.