The crossing statistic: dealing with unknown errors in the dispersion of Type Ia supernovae
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP (United Kingdom)
- Astrophysics Department, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Oxford, OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
We propose a new statistic that has been designed to be used in situations where the intrinsic dispersion of a data set is not well known: The Crossing Statistic. This statistic is in general less sensitive than χ{sup 2} to the intrinsic dispersion of the data, and hence allows us to make progress in distinguishing between different models using goodness of fit to the data even when the errors involved are poorly understood. The proposed statistic makes use of the shape and trends of a model's predictions in a quantifiable manner. It is applicable to a variety of circumstances, although we consider it to be especially well suited to the task of distinguishing between different cosmological models using type Ia supernovae. We show that this statistic can easily distinguish between different models in cases where the χ{sup 2} statistic fails. We also show that the last mode of the Crossing Statistic is identical to χ{sup 2}, so that it can be considered as a generalization of χ{sup 2}.
- OSTI ID:
- 22277808
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 08; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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