2013/02/27 by Shawn Seader, Peter Tenenbaum, Jon M. Jenkins +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Constant false alarm rate #False alarm #Pipeline (software) #Planet #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Sensitivity (control systems) #Software #Spacecraft #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/206/2/25
published as Astrophys.J.Suppl. 206 (2013) 25
arxiv created 2013/02/27 · openalex publication_date 2013/06/03 · arxiv updated 2014/06/13 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The Kepler spacecraft observes a host of target stars to detect transiting planets. Requiring a 7.1σ detection in three years of data yields over 100,000 detections, many of which are false alarms. After a second cut is made on a robust detection statistic, some 50,000 or more targets still remain. These false alarms waste resources as they propagate through the remainder of the software pipeline and so a method to discriminate against them is crucial in maintaining the desired sensitivity to true events. This paper describes a χ 2 test which represents a novel application of an existing formalism developed for false alarm mitigation in searches for gravitational waves. Using this technique, the false alarm rate can be lowered to ∼5%.