Comparison of methods to extract an asymmetry parameter from data

Abstract

Several methods to extract an asymmetry parameter in an event distribution function are discussed and compared in terms of statistical precision and applicability. These methods are: simple counting rate asymmetries, event weighting procedures and the unbinned extended maximum likelihood method. It is known that weighting methods reach the same figure of merit (FOM) as the likelihood method in the limit of vanishing asymmetries. This article presents an improved weighting procedure reaching the FOM of the likelihood method for arbitrary asymmetries. Cases where the maximum likelihood method is not applicable are also discussed.

17 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Spin Structure of the Proton from Polarized Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Muon-Proton Scattering
• Measurement of the Spin Structure of the Deuteron in the DIS Region
• Simultaneous Determination of Signal and Background Asymmetries

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Leading and Next-to-Leading Order Gluon Polarisation in the Nucleon and Longitudinal Double Spin Asymmetries from Open Charm Muoproduction
• First measurement of the Sivers asymmetry for gluons from SIDIS data
• Extraction of Azimuthal Asymmetries using Optimal Observables
• Improved Method to extract Nucleon Helicity Distributions using Event Weighting