Identifying multiple periodicities in sparse photon event time series
Loading...
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Abstract
The data considered are event times (e.g. photon arrival times, or the occurrence of sharp
pulses). The source is multiperiodic, or the data could be multiperiodic because several unresolved sources contribute to the time series. Most events may be unobserved, either because
the source is intermittent, or because some events are below the detection limit. The data
may also be contaminated by spurious pulses. The problem considered is the determination
of the periods in the data. A two-step procedure is proposed: in the first, a likely period is
identified; in the second, events associated with this periodicity are removed from the time
series. The steps are repeated until the remaining events do not exhibit any periodicity. A
number of period-finding methods from the literature are reviewed, and a new maximum
likelihood statistic is also introduced. It is shown that the latter is competitive compared to
other techniques. The proposed methodology is tested on simulated data. Observations of two
rotating radio transients are discussed, but contrary to claims in the literature, no evidence for
multiperiodicity could be found.
Description
Keywords
Statistics studies, Pulsars, Population studies, Physics
Citation
Koen, C. (2016). Identifying multiple periodicities in sparse photon event time series. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 459(3), 012–3024. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw848