Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-03-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
7 pages LaTEX, 3 postscript figures
Scientific paper
As the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is observed to higher and higher angular resolution the size of the resulting datasets becomes a serious constraint on their analysis. In particular current algorithms to determine the location of, and curvature at, the peak of the power spectrum likelihood function from a general $N_{p}$-pixel CMB sky map scale as $O(N_{p}^{3})$. Moreover the current best algorithm --- the quadratic estimator --- is a Newton-Raphson iterative scheme and so requires a `sufficiently good' starting point to guarantee convergence to the true maximum. Here we present an algorithm to calculate bounds on the likelihood function at any point in parameter space using Gaussian quadrature and show that, judiciously applied, it scales as only $O(N_{p}^{7/3})$. Although it provides no direct curvature information we show how this approach is well-suited both to estimating cosmological parameters directly and to providing a coarse map of the power spectrum likelihood function from which to select the starting point for more refined techniques.
No associations
LandOfFree
A Fast Method For Bounding The CMB Power Spectrum Likelihood Function does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A Fast Method For Bounding The CMB Power Spectrum Likelihood Function, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Fast Method For Bounding The CMB Power Spectrum Likelihood Function will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-403458