1-5 July 2019
The University of Manchester
Europe/London timezone
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Bayesian and frequentist approaches to discoveries

Presented by Dr. Andrew FOWLIE on 2 Jul 2019 from 15:30 to 15:50
Type: oral presentation
Track: Collider Probes of New Physics

Content

I discuss findings from my recent comparison of Bayesian and frequentist approaches to resonance searches (1902.03243). I introduce a counting experiment based on a search for the Higgs boson from which I generate pseudo-data. With that pseudo-data, I contrast the evolution of the $p$-value and posterior as we accumulate data and directly compare global $p$-values and the posterior of the background model. I find that in this toy problem $p$-values are typically smaller than the posterior by one or two orders of magnitude. I discuss the implications of this result for our interpretation of anomalies in resonance searches and searches for new physics in general.

Place

Location: Schuster
Room: Blackett Lecture Theatre

Primary authors

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