English

On Bayesian analysis of on-off measurements

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 2016-04-20 v1

Abstract

We propose an analytical solution to the on-off problem within the framework of Bayesian statistics. Both the statistical significance for the discovery of new phenomena and credible intervals on model parameters are presented in a consistent way. We use a large enough family of prior distributions of relevant parameters. The proposed analysis is designed to provide Bayesian solutions that can be used for any number of observed on-off events, including zero. The procedure is checked using Monte Carlo simulations. The usefulness of the method is demonstrated on examples from gamma-ray astronomy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1603.03386,
  title  = {On Bayesian analysis of on-off measurements},
  author = {Dalibor Nosek and Jana Nosková},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.03386},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T13:08:20.074Z