Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Shape-Constrained Uncertainty Quantification In Unfolding Steeply Falling Elementary Particle Spectra
 
research article

Shape-Constrained Uncertainty Quantification In Unfolding Steeply Falling Elementary Particle Spectra

Kuusela, Mikael  
•
Stark, Philip B.
2017
Annals Of Applied Statistics

The high energy physics unfolding problem is an important statistical inverse problem in data analysis at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The goal of unfolding is to make nonparametric inferences about a particle spectrum from measurements smeared by the finite resolution of the particle detectors. Previous unfolding methods use ad hoc discretization and regularization, resulting in confidence intervals that can have significantly lower coverage than their nominal level. Instead of regularizing using a roughness penalty or stopping iterative methods early, we impose physically motivated shape constraints: positivity, monotonicity, and convexity. We quantify the uncertainty by constructing a nonparametric confidence set for the true spectrum, consisting of all those spectra that satisfy the shape constraints and that predict the observations within an appropriately calibrated level of fit. Projecting that set produces simultaneous confidence intervals for all functionals of the spectrum, including averages within bins. The confidence intervals have guaranteed conservative frequentist finite-sample coverage in the important and challenging class of unfolding problems for steeply falling particle spectra. We demonstrate the method using simulations that mimic unfolding the inclusive jet transverse momentum spectrum at the LHC. The shape-constrained intervals provide usefully tight conservative inferences, while the conventional methods suffer from severe undercoverage.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1214/17-Aoas1053
Web of Science ID

WOS:000412884800018

Author(s)
Kuusela, Mikael  
•
Stark, Philip B.
Date Issued

2017

Publisher

Inst Mathematical Statistics

Published in
Annals Of Applied Statistics
Volume

11

Issue

3

Start page

1671

End page

1710

Subjects

Poisson inverse problem

•

finite-sample coverage

•

high energy physics

•

Large Hadron Collider

•

Fenchel duality

•

semi-infinite programming

Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SMAT  
Available on Infoscience
November 8, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/142069
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés