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Thomas comments on What was your biggest recent surprise? - Less Wrong Discussion

11 Post author: DataPacRat 09 June 2012 11:57PM

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Comment author: Thomas 12 June 2012 04:21:42PM 0 points [-]

You, an astronomer, should always ask yourself: Giving this light pattern in time, what is the most probable source which would give me this pattern. Be it static or dynamic, whichever fits the best.

Comment author: shminux 12 June 2012 04:39:08PM *  0 points [-]

The standard approach is to simulate multiple possible sources and use Bayesian techniques, such as maximum likelihood, to evaluate which ones match the data best and whether the best is a good enough fit. The waveforms matching in LIGO is one of the extremes, given how weak the potential signal is.