IAU02582
Presentation type requested: EITHER
BAYESIAN AND FREQUENTIST STATISTICS OF THE CMB
Andrew Jaffe
Imperial College London

As CMB data continue to improve, the details of our statistical methodology become more important. I will discuss the theoretical and practical differences between so-called Bayesian ("likelihood") and Orthodox ("frequentist") approaches to the analysis of CMB data. We do not expect, and nor do we observe, identical results from the two approaches except in the very simplest cases (which cases, however, provide us with all the examples on which we cut our teeth, and so skew our expectations.) The underlying physics of the CMB is sufficiently simple that it provides an ideal, yet still realistic, test-bed to discuss the differences between the two approaches, and the subtle but real systematic differences that may appear in results calculated one or the other way. We will give examples from balloon-based experiments (MAXIMA and BOOMERANG) as well as satellite missions (WMAP and Planck).

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