Modern statistical methods for astronomy: with R applications

"Modern astronomical research is beset with a vast range of statistical challenges, ranging from reducing data from megadatasets to characterizing an amazing variety of variable celestial objects or testing astrophysical theory. Yet most astronomers still use a narrow suite of traditional statistical methods. Linking astronomy to the world of modern statistics, this volume is a unique resource, introducing astronomers to advanced statistics through ready-to-use code in the public-domain R statistical software environment."--

Cover; Modern Statistical Methods for Astronomy; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Motivation and goals; Audience; Outline and classroom use; Astronomical datasets and R scripts; Acknowledgements; 1: Introduction; 1.1 The role of statistics in astronomy; 1.1.1 Astronomy and astrophysics; 1.1.2 Probability and statistics; 1.1.3 Statistics and science; 1.2 History of statistics in astronomy; 1.2.1 Antiquity through the Renaissance; 1.2.2 Foundations of statistics in celestial mechanics; 1.2.3 Statistics in twentieth-century astronomy; 1.3 Recommended reading; 2: Probability.

2.1 Uncertainty in observational science2.2 Outcome spaces and events; 2.3 Axioms of probability; 2.4 Conditional probabilities; 2.4.1 Bayes' theorem; 2.4.2 Independent events; 2.5 Random variables; 2.5.1 Density and distribution functions; 2.5.2 Independent and identically distributed random variables; 2.6 Quantile function; 2.7 Discrete distributions; 2.8 Continuous distributions; 2.9 Distributions that are neither discrete nor continuous; 2.10 Limit theorems; 2.11 Recommended reading; 2.12 R applications; 3: Statistical inference; 3.1 The astronomical context.

3.2 Concepts of statistical infe…