COSMOLOGICAL MODEL SELECTION: STATISTICS AND PHYSICS

DOI10.1142/S0218271808013881MaRDI QIDQ5320850zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Authors Eric V. Linder, Ramon Miquel

Publication date 22 July 2009

Published in International Journal of Modern Physics D (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0702542

zbMATH Keywords

dark energymodel selection

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Statistical astronomy (85A35) Astrophysical cosmology (85A40)

Abstract: Interpretation of cosmological data to determine the number and values of parameters describing the universe must not rely solely on statistics but involve physical insight. When statistical techniques such as "model selection" or "integrated survey optimization" blindly apply Occam's Razor, this can lead to painful results. We emphasize that the sensitivity to prior probabilities and to the number of models compared can lead to "prior selection" rather than robust model selection. A concrete example demonstrates that Information Criteria can in fact misinform over a large region of parameter space.

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Cites work

• RECONSTRUCTING DARK ENERGY

Cited in

(6)

• The implementation, interpretation, and justification of likelihoods in cosmology
• An optimal basis system for cosmology: data analysis and new parameterisation
• Statistical methods in cosmology
• Needlets Estimation in Cosmology and Astrophysics
• Bayesian Methods in Cosmology
• Bayesian Methods in Cosmology

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