CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number	arXiv:2012.09874 ; PSI-PR-20-23 ; BONN-TH-2020-11 ; CP3-20-59 ; KCL-PH-TH/2020-75, P3H-20-080 ; TTP20-044 ; TUM-HEP-1310/20 ; IFT-UAM/CSIC-20-180 ; TTK-20-47, CERN-TH-2020-215 ; FTPI-MINN-20-36 ; UMN-TH-4005/20 ; HU-EP-20/37 ; DESY 20-222, ADP-20-33/T1143 ; DESY-20-222 ; Imperial/TP/2020/RT/04 ; UCI-TR-2020-19 ; gambit-review-2020
Title	Simple and statistically sound recommendations for analysing physical theories
Author(s)	AbdusSalam, Shehu S. (Shahid Beheshti U.) ; Agocs, Fruzsina J. (Cambridge U. ; Cambridge U., KICC) ; Allanach, Benjamin C. (Cambridge U., DAMTP) ; Athron, Peter (Monash U. ; Nanjing Normal U.) ; Balázs, Csaba (Monash U.) ; Bagnaschi, Emanuele (PSI, Villigen) ; Bechtle, Philip (Bonn U.) ; Buchmueller, Oliver (Imperial Coll., London) ; Beniwal, Ankit (Louvain U., CP3) ; Bhom, Jihyun (Cracow, INP) ; Bloor, Sanjay (Imperial Coll., London ; Queensland U.) ; Bringmann, Torsten (Oslo U.) ; Buckley, Andy (Glasgow U.) ; Butter, Anja (U. Heidelberg, ITP) ; Camargo-Molina, José Eliel (Uppsala U. (main)) ; Chrzaszcz, Marcin (Cracow, INP) ; Conrad, Jan (Stockholm U., OKC) ; Cornell, Jonathan M. (Weber State U.) ; Danninger, Matthias (Simon Fraser U.) ; de Blas, Jorge (Durham U.) ; De Roeck, Albert (CERN) ; Desch, Klaus (Bonn U.) ; Dolan, Matthew (U. Melbourne (main)) ; Dreiner, Herbert (Bonn U.) ; Eberhardt, Otto (Valencia U., IFIC) ; Ellis, John (King's Coll. London (main)) ; Farmer, Ben (Imperial Coll., London ; Melbourne U.) ; Fedele, Marco (Karlsruhe U., ITP) ; Flächer, Henning (Bristol U.) ; Fowlie, Andrew (Nanjing Normal U.) ; Gonzalo, Tomás E. (Monash U.) ; Grace, Philip (Adelaide U.) ; Hamer, Matthias (Bonn U.) ; Handley, Will (Cambridge U. ; Cambridge U., KICC) ; Harz, Julia (Munich U.) ; Heinemeyer, Sven (Madrid, Autonoma U.) ; Hoof, Sebastian (Inst. Astrophys. Gottingen) ; Hotinli, Selim (Imperial Coll., London) ; Jackson, Paul (Adelaide U.) ; Kahlhoefer, Felix (RWTH Aachen U.) ; Kowalska, Kamila (NCBJ, Warsaw) ; Krämer, Michael (RWTH Aachen U.) ; Kvellestad, Anders (Oslo U.) ; Lucio Martinez, Miriam (Nikhef, Amsterdam) ; Mahmoudi, Farvah (IP2I, Lyon ; CERN) ; Martinez Santos, Diego (Santiago de Compostela U., IGFAE) ; Martinez, Gregory D. (UCLA) ; Mishima, Satoshi (KEK, Tsukuba) ; Olive, Keith (Minnesota U.) ; Paul, Ayan (DESY ; Humboldt U., Berlin) ; Prim, Markus Tobias (Bonn U.) ; Porod, Werner (Wurzburg U.) ; Raklev, Are (Oslo U.) ; Renk, Janina J. (Imperial Coll., London ; Queensland U. ; Stockholm U., OKC) ; Rogan, Christopher (U. Kansas, Lawrence) ; Roszkowski, Leszek (Warsaw, Copernicus Astron. Ctr. ; NCBJ, Warsaw) ; Ruiz de Austri, Roberto (Madrid, Autonoma U.) ; Sakurai, Kazuki (Warsaw U.) ; Scaffidi, Andre (INFN, Turin) ; Scott, Pat (Imperial Coll., London ; Queensland U.) ; Sessolo, Enrico Maria (NCBJ, Warsaw) ; Stefaniak, Tim (DESY) ; Stöcker, Patrick (RWTH Aachen U.) ; Su, Wei (Adelaide U.) ; Trojanowski, Sebastian (Warsaw, Copernicus Astron. Ctr. ; NCBJ, Warsaw) ; Trotta, Roberto (Imperial Coll., London ; SISSA, Trieste) ; Tsai, Yue-Lin Sming (Purple Mountain Observ.) ; Van den Abeele, Jeriek (Oslo U.) ; Valli, Mauro (UC, Irvine) ; Vincent, Aaron C. (Queen's U., Kingston) ; Weiglein, Georg (DESY) ; White, Martin (Adelaide U.) ; Wienemann, Peter (Bonn U.) ; Wu, Lei (Nanjing Normal U.) ; Zhang, Yang (Monash U. ; Zhengzhou U.)
Publication	2022-04-29
Imprint	2020-12-17
Number of pages	15
Note	15 pages, 4 figures. extended discussions. closely matches version accepted for publication
In:	Rep. Prog. Phys. Rep. Prog. Phys. 85 (2022) pp.052201
DOI	10.1088/1361-6633/ac60ac (publication)
Subject category	physics.data-an ; Other Fields of Physics ; hep-ex ; Particle Physics - Experiment ; astro-ph.CO ; Astrophysics and Astronomy ; hep-ph ; Particle Physics - Phenomenology
Accelerator/Facility, Experiment	GAMBIT
Abstract	Physical theories that depend on many parameters or are tested against data from many different experiments pose unique challenges to statistical inference. Many models in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology fall into one or both of these categories. These issues are often sidestepped with statistically unsound ad hoc methods, involving intersection of parameter intervals estimated by multiple experiments, and random or grid sampling of model parameters. Whilst these methods are easy to apply, they exhibit pathologies even in low-dimensional parameter spaces, and quickly become problematic to use and interpret in higher dimensions. In this article we give clear guidance for going beyond these procedures, suggesting where possible simple methods for performing statistically sound inference, and recommendations of readily-available software tools and standards that can assist in doing so. Our aim is to provide any physicists lacking comprehensive statistical training with recommendations for reaching correct scientific conclusions, with only a modest increase in analysis burden. Our examples can be reproduced with the code publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4322283.
Copyright/License	preprint: (License: arXiv nonexclusive-distrib 1.0) publication: © 2022-2024 IOP Publishing Ltd

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