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Estimating a Gibbs density function given a sample is an important problem in computational statistics and statistical learning. Although the well established maximum likelihood method is commonly used, it requires the computation of the…
We present the results of generalized measurements of optical polarization designed to provide one of three or four distinct outcomes. This has allowed us to discriminate between nonorthogonal polarization states with an error probability…
To detect and track structural changes in atomic nuclei, the systematic study of nuclear levels with firm spin-parity assignments is important. While linear polarization measurements have been applied to determine the electromagnetic…
Recent satellite observations have revealed significant anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, a phenomenon that had previously been detected but received limited attention due to its subtlety. With the advent of…
Standard maximum-likelihood estimators for binary-star and exoplanet eccentricities are biased high, in the sense that the estimated eccentricity tends to be larger than the true eccentricity. As with most non-trivial observables, a simple…
The new generation of CMB polarization experiments will reach limits of sensitivity never achieved before to detect the primordial B-mode signal. However, all these efforts will be futile if we lack a tight control of systematics. Here, we…
The detection reliability of weak signals is a critical issue in many astronomical contexts and may have severe consequences for determining number counts and luminosity functions, but also for optimising the use of telescope time in…
Gaseous X-ray polarimetry refers to a class of detectors used for measuring the polarization of soft X-rays. The systematic effects of such detectors introduce residual modulation, leading to systematic biases in the polarization detection…
We report on the experimental implementation of a polarimeter based on a scheme known to be optimal for obtaining the polarization vector of ensembles of spin-1/2 quantum systems, and the alignment procedure for this polarimeter is…
In spite of extensive observations and numerous theoretical studies in the past decades several key questions related with Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRB) emission mechanisms are still to be answered. Precise detection of the GRB polarization…
A universal and optimal method for the polarimetry of light with arbitrary photon statistics is presented. The method is based on the continuous maximum-likelihood positive operator-valued measure (ML-POVM) for pure polarization states over…
We discuss new techniques and ideas in mm-wave instrumentation that can be used in CMB (Cosmic Microwave background) polarization experiments. Novel techniques in antenna receiver, beam combining and detector systems have resulted in…
A new method for absolute polarimetric calibration of large telescopes is presented. The proposed method is highly accurate and is based on the calibration of a small sub-aperture, which is then extended to the full system by means of…
Using the maximum-likelihood detector (MLD) of a soliton with timing jitter and noise, other than walk-out of the bit interval, timing jitter does not degrade the performance of MLD. When the MLD is simulated with important sampling method,…
The Planck experiment has measured the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) angular spectrum with unprecedented accuracy, and these results are likely to remain the state-of-the art for a decade or more. Since these measurements are going to…
Imaging polarimetry is a powerful tool for detecting and characterizing exoplanets and circumstellar environments. Polarimetry allows a separation of the light coming from an unpolarized source such as a star and the polarized source such…
We study a model of a two-level system (i.e. a qubit) in interaction with the electromagnetic field. By means of homodyne detection, one field-quadrature is observed continuously in time. Due to the interaction, information about the…
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) lensing is a powerful probe of the matter distribution in the Universe. The standard quadratic estimator, which is typically used to measure the lensing signal, is known to be suboptimal for low-noise…
We present a new method for measuring the CMB temperature quadrupole, using large scale CMB polarization. The method exploits the fact that CMB polarization is partially sourced by the local temperature quadrupole. We link the temperature…
The prospects for accomplishing X-ray polarization measurements appear to have grown in recent years after a more than 35-year hiatus. Unfortunately, this long hiatus has brought with it some confusion over the statistical uncertainties…