Comparative Study of Significance Measures for Periodicity Detection in Astronomical Surveys

First published: 2015

Brief summary

Methodology paper on detecting genuine periodic signals in astronomical time series against instrument-induced spectral windows, using the Gaia satellite's 6-hour rotation as a worked example.

Article

Comparative Study of Significance Measures for Periodicity Detection in Astronomical Surveys is a peer-reviewed journal article published by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Oxford) in 2015. It presents a methodology paper on detecting genuine periodic signals in astronomical time series against instrument-induced spectral windows, using the Gaia satellite's 6-hour rotation as a worked example.

The analysis focuses on 6-hour satellite rotation (Gaia) creating spectral window artifacts at 4 cycles/day and harmonics. It also considers statistical methods paper. 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: Gaia's complex motion, consisting of a 6-hour rotation and a slow precession of its axis, induces a large variety of spectral windows showing prominent peaks corresponding to its spin rate of 4 cycles per day and integer multiples thereof. 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 astronomical periodicity detection, spectral windows, gaia rotation, significance testing. 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 peer-reviewed journal article, the article is a strong starting point for discussion in the Cosmology & Astronomy forum, although its conclusions should still be compared with later replications and updated datasets.

Source details and credits

• Source / publisher: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Oxford)
• Source type: Peer-reviewed journal article
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Oxford)
• URL: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/450/2/2052/983840