A New Technique for the Detection of Periodic Signals in 'Coloured' Power Spectra
First published: 1996
Brief summary
Methodology review noting that periodic signals from astronomical sources can be measured to accuracy rivaling atomic clocks, spanning objects from comets to cosmological-scale structures.
Article
A New Technique for the Detection of Periodic Signals in 'Coloured' Power Spectra is a preprint published by arXiv in 1996. It presents a methodology review noting that periodic signals from astronomical sources can be measured to accuracy rivaling atomic clocks, spanning objects from comets to cosmological-scale structures.
General methodology. The study references periodic signal measurement precision rivaling atomic clocks (implying sub-microsecond scale) up to cosmological-distance periodicities. This gives the cycle claim a specific numerical and evidential setting rather than presenting periodicity only as a visual impression.
The article reports the following result: In some cases periodic signals from the cosmos can be measured to an exceptionally high accuracy, that rivals that of atomic clocks; astronomical time series spanning objects from comets and asteroids to the largest cosmological structures are analysed for periodicity. The interpretation is strongest when it survives red-noise modelling, uneven sampling, spectral-window effects and correction for the number of frequencies searched.
For cycles researchers, the article brings together periodicity detection, coloured power spectra, astronomical time series, statistical significance. It is relevant to the detection and interpretation of periodic signals in astronomical observations, where sampling, red noise and instrumental effects can imitate or obscure genuine cycles.
Because it is a preprint, the work should be read alongside later peer-reviewed publications and independent replications. It remains useful because the proposed cycle, dataset and analytical approach are stated clearly enough to be scrutinised.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: arXiv
- Source type: Preprint
- URL type: PDF
- Credits: arXiv
- URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9603038