Related papers: Bias in the Cepheid PL relation

Global SMEFT analyses have become a key interpretation framework for LHC physics, quantifying how well a large set of kinematic measurements agrees with the Standard Model. This agreement is encoded in measured Wilson coefficients and their…

Using the M31 PAndromeda Cepheid sample and the HST PHAT data we obtain the largest Cepheid sample in M31 with HST data in four bands. For our analysis we consider three samples: A very homogeneous sample of Cepheids based on the PAndromeda…

Cepheids have long been used as standard candles to determine distances around the Milky Way and to nearby galaxies. A discrepancy still remains for Hubble Constant determinations using Cepheids vs. the cosmic microwave background or…

A central problem in Binary Hypothesis Testing (BHT) is to determine the optimal tradeoff between the Type I error (referred to as false alarm) and Type II (referred to as miss) error. In this context, the exponential rate of convergence of…

Large language models (LLMs) alignment aims to ensure that the behavior of LLMs meets human preferences. While collecting data from multiple fine-grained, aspect-specific preferences becomes more and more feasible, existing alignment…

This paper revisits the classical problem of determining the bias of a weighted coin, where the bias is known to be either $p = 1/2 + \varepsilon$ or $p = 1/2 - \varepsilon$, while minimizing the expected number of coin tosses and the error…

Using our interferometric observations of seven classical Cepheids reported in Kervella et al. (2003, Paper I), complemented by previously existing measurements, we derive new calibrations of the Cepheids Period-Radius (P-R) and…

We show on theoretical grounds that, even in the presence of noise, probabilistic measurement strategies (which have a certain probability of failure or abstention) can provide, upon a heralded successful outcome, estimates with a precision…

(abridged) Recent investigations aimed at estimating the distance to the young LMC cluster NGC1866 have made use of Red Clump stars in the surrounding LMC field, together with empirical and theoretical Main-Sequence fitting methods, and…

This study proposes a new efficiency requirement, a minimal almost weak Pareto principle, which says that x is socially better than y whenever the only one individual never prefers y to x, and all the others prefers x to y. Then, I show…

Confirmation bias, the tendency to seek evidence that supports rather than challenges one's belief, hinders one's reasoning ability. We examine whether large language models (LLMs) exhibit confirmation bias by adapting the rule-discovery…

The methods of calibrating the luminosities of galactic Cepheids and determining Cepheid reddenings are considered in some detail. Together with work on NGC4258 this suggests that the calibration presented is valid to about 0.1mag (s.e.) at…

Correlation Clustering (CC) is a fundamental unsupervised learning primitive whose strongest LP-based approximation guarantees require $\Theta(n^3)$ triangle inequality constraints and are prohibitive at scale. We initiate the study of…

Relational data are usually highly incomplete in practice, which inspires us to leverage side information to improve the performance of community detection and link prediction. This paper presents a Bayesian probabilistic approach that…

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities across a wide range of natural language processing tasks. However, their tendency to exhibit sycophantic behavior - excessively agreeing with or flattering users - poses…

Residual errors in shear measurements, after corrections for instrument systematics and atmospheric effects, can impact cosmological parameters derived from weak lensing observations. Here we combine convergence maps from our suite of…

It is now routine to measure the weak gravitational lensing shear signal from the mean ellipticity of distant galaxies. However, conversion between ellipticity and shear assumes local linearity of the lensing potential (ie that the spatial…

This position paper argues that sycophancy in LLMs is a boundary failure between social alignment and epistemic integrity. Existing work often operationalizes sycophancy through external behavior such as agreement with incorrect user…

We study the complexity of computing (and approximating) VC Dimension and Littlestone's Dimension when we are given the concept class explicitly. We give a simple reduction from Maximum (Unbalanced) Biclique problem to approximating VC…

Background and objective. Circular statistics and Rayleigh tests are important tools for analyzing the occurrence of cyclic events. However, current methods fail in the presence of measurement bias, such as incomplete or otherwise…