The Effect of Non Gaussian Errors on the Determination of Steeply Falling Spectra

2002/02/08 by C. O. Escobar, L. G. dos Santos, Escobar, C. O. +4 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Data Analysis #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #Statistical and numerical algorithms #Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an) #Time Series Analysis and Forecasting #astro-ph #hep-ph #physics.data-an

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0202172

11 pages, 5 figures

arxiv created 2002/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2002/02/08 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The determination of a steeply falling energy spectrum from rare events with non-gaussian measurement errors is a delicate matter. The final shape of the spectrum may be severely distorted as a consequence of non-gaussian tails in the energy resolution of the experiment. We illustrate this effect with the recent experimental efforts to determine the ultra-high energy extreme of the cosmic ray spectrum.

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