Related papers: On a chi^2-function with previously estimated back…
Likelihood-based inference, central in modern particle physics data analysis requires the extensive evaluation of a likelihood function that depends on set of parameters defined by the statistical model under consideration. If an analytical…
An unbinned statistical test on cluster-like deviations from Poisson processes for point process data is introduced, presented in the context of time variability analysis of astrophysical sources in count rate experiments. The measure of…
Background properties in experimental particle physics are typically estimated using large data sets. However, different events can exhibit different features because of the quantum mechanical nature of the underlying physics processes.…
Hypothesis tests for the presence of new sources of Poisson counts amidst background processes are frequently performed in high energy physics (HEP), gamma ray astronomy (GRA), and other branches of science. While there are conceptual…
A method is described, which computes from an observed sample of events upper limits for production rates of particles, or, in case of appearance of a signal, the probability for an upwards fluctuation of the background. For any candidate,…
Measuring di-Higgs production in the four-bottom channel is challenged by overwhelming QCD backgrounds and imperfect simulations. We develop a Bayesian mixture model that simultaneously infers signal and background fractions and their…
The Bayesian Block algorithm, originally developed for applications in astronomy, can be used to improve the binning of histograms in high energy physics. The visual improvement can be dramatic, as shown here with two simple examples. More…
We present a universal method to include residual un-modeled background shape uncertainties in likelihood based statistical tests for high energy physics and astroparticle physics. This approach provides a simple and natural protection…
The estimation of signal frequency count in the presence of background noise has had much discussion in the recent physics literature, and Mandelkern [1] brings the central issues to the statistical community, leading in turn to extensive…
Signal estimation in the presence of background noise is a common problem in several scientific disciplines. An 'On/Off' measurement is performed when the background itself is not known, being estimated from a background control sample. The…
When reading peer-reviewed scientific literature describing any analysis of empirical data, it is natural and correct to proceed with the underlying assumption that experiments have made good faith efforts to ensure that their analyses…
Background treatment is crucial to extract physics from precision experiments. In this paper, we introduce a novel method to assign each event a signal probability. This could then be used to weight the event's contribution to the…
The CMS muon system at the LHC is built of different detector technologies. The measurement of the background hit rates in the different muon detectors during the LHC Run-2 is of prime importance for an assessment of the longevity of the…
We present a new fitting technique based on the parametric bootstrap method, which relies on the idea to produce artificial measurements using the estimated probability distribution of the experimental data. In order to investigate the main…
The paper addresses general aspects of experimental data analysis, dealing with the separation of ``signal vs. background''. It consists of two parts. Part I is a tutorial on statistical event classification, Bayesian inference, and test…
Extracting maximal information from experimental data requires access to the likelihood function, which however is never directly available for complex experiments like those performed at high energy colliders. Theoretical predictions are…
In this note, an alternative for presenting the distribution of `significant' events in searches for new phenomena is described. The alternative is based on probability density functions used in the evaluation of the `significance' of an…
When measuring rare processes at Belle II, a huge luminosity is required, which means a large number of simulations are necessary to determine signal efficiencies and background contributions. However, this process demands high computation…
Structure function data provide insight into the nucleon quark distribution. They are relatively straightforward to extract from the world's vast, and growing, amount of inclusive lepto-production data. In turn, structure functions can be…
We develop, discuss, and compare several inference techniques to constrain theory parameters in collider experiments. By harnessing the latent-space structure of particle physics processes, we extract extra information from the simulator.…