Related papers: Bias on Tensor-to-Scalar Ratio Inference With Esti…
Empirical estimates of the band power covariance matrix are commonly used in cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum analyses. While this approach easily captures correlations in the data, noise in the resulting covariance estimate…
AIMS. The maximum-likelihood method is the standard approach to obtain model fits to observational data and the corresponding confidence regions. We investigate possible sources of bias in the log-likelihood function and its subsequent…
We consider future balloon-borne and ground-based suborbital experiments designed to search for inflationary gravitational waves, and investigate the impact of residual foregrounds that remain in the estimated cosmic microwave background…
Extracting parameter constraints from cosmological observations requires accurate determination of the covariance matrix for use in the likelihood function. We show here that uncertainties in the elements of the covariance matrix propagate…
We derive a new upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio parameter $r$ using the frequentist profile likelihood method. We vary all the relevant cosmological parameters of the $\Lambda$CDM model, as well as the nuisance parameters. Unlike…
There are large classes of inflationary models, particularly popular in the context of string theory and brane world approaches to inflation, in which the ratio of linearized tensor to scalar metric fluctuations is very small. In such…
The current limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio from the BICEP/Keck Collaboration (with r<0.036 at 95% confidence) puts pressure on early universe models, with less than 10% of the error on r attributed to uncertainty in Galactic…
The inverse covariance matrix provides considerable insight for understanding statistical models in the multivariate setting. In particular, when the distribution over variables is assumed to be multivariate normal, the sparsity pattern in…
We describe an approximate statistical model for the sample variance distribution of the non-linear matter power spectrum that can be calibrated from limited numbers of simulations. Our model retains the common assumption of a multivariate…
We present an analysis of errors on the tensor-to-scalar ratio due to residual diffuse foregrounds. We use simulated observations of a CMB polarization satellite, the Cosmic Origins Explorer, using the specifications of the version proposed…
We obtain a sharp convergence rate for banded covariance matrix estimates of stationary processes. A precise order of magnitude is derived for spectral radius of sample covariance matrices. We also consider a thresholded covariance matrix…
This paper studies the problem of estimating a covariance matrix from correlated sub-Gaussian samples. We consider using the correlated sample covariance matrix estimator to approximate the true covariance matrix. We establish…
Computing the inverse covariance matrix (or precision matrix) of large data vectors is crucial in weak lensing (and multi-probe) analyses of the large scale structure of the universe. Analytically computed covariances are noise-free and…
We investigate the prior dependence of constraints on cosmic tensor perturbations. Commonly imposed is the strong prior of the single-field inflationary consistency equation, relating the tensor spectral index nT to the tensor-to-scalar…
Constraining cosmology using weak gravitational lensing consists of comparing a measured feature vector of dimension $N_b$ with its simulated counterpart. An accurate estimate of the $N_b\times N_b$ feature covariance matrix $\mathbf{C}$ is…
This paper considers estimating a covariance matrix of $p$ variables from $n$ observations by either banding or tapering the sample covariance matrix, or estimating a banded version of the inverse of the covariance. We show that these…
We investigate the bias and error in estimates of the cosmological parameter covariance matrix, due to sampling or modelling the data covariance matrix, for likelihood width and peak scatter estimators. We show that these estimators do not…
We present constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r using Planck data. We use the latest release of Planck maps (PR4), processed with the NPIPE code, which produces calibrated frequency maps in temperature and polarization for all Planck…
The estimation of cosmological constraints from observations of the large scale structure of the Universe, such as the power spectrum or the correlation function, requires the knowledge of the inverse of the associated covariance matrix,…
Accurate and precise covariance matrices will be important in enabling planned cosmological surveys to detect new physics. Standard methods imply either the need for many N-body simulations in order to obtain an accurate estimate, or a…