Article (Scientific journals)
On posterior probability and significance level: application to the power spectrum of HD 49 933 observed by CoRoT
Appourchaux, T.; Samadi, R.; Dupret, Marc-Antoine
2009In Astronomy and Astrophysics, 506, p. 1-5
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Keywords :
methods: analytical; methods: statistical; Sun:; helioseismology
Abstract :
[en] Context: The CoRoT mission provides asteroseismic data of very high quality allowing one to adopt new statistical approaches for mode detection in power spectra, especially with respect to testing the null hypothesis (H{0}, which assumes that what is observed is pure noise). Aims: We emphasize that the significance level when rejecting the null hypothesis can lead to the incorrect conclusion that the H{0} hypothesis is unlikely to occur at that significance level. We demonstrate that the significance level is unrelated to the posterior probability of H{0}, given the observed data set, and that this posterior probability is very much higher than implied by the significance level. Methods: We use Bayes theorem to derive the posterior probability of that H{0} is true assuming an alternative hypothesis H{1} that a mode is present, taking some prior for the mode height, mode amplitude and linewidth. Results: We compute the posterior probability of H{0} for the p modes detected on HD 49 933 by CoRoT. Conclusions: We conclude that the posterior probability of H{0} provide a much more conservative quantification of the mode detection than the significance level. This framework can be applied to any similar stellar power spectra obtained to complete asteroseismology. The CoRoT space mission, launched on 2006 December 27, was developed and is operated by the CNES, with participation of the Science Programs of ESA, ESA's RSSD, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany and Spain.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Appourchaux, T.;  Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, UMR8617, Université Paris XI, Bâtiment 121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Samadi, R.;  Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, UMR8109, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
Dupret, Marc-Antoine ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Astrophysique stellaire théorique
Language :
English
Title :
On posterior probability and significance level: application to the power spectrum of HD 49 933 observed by CoRoT
Publication date :
01 October 2009
Journal title :
Astronomy and Astrophysics
ISSN :
0004-6361
eISSN :
1432-0746
Publisher :
EDP Sciences, Les Ulis, France
Volume :
506
Pages :
1-5
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Commentary :
http://de.arxiv.org/abs/0906.0864
Available on ORBi :
since 12 November 2010

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