Information and statistics: a new paradigm in theoretical nuclear physics

Abstract

Theoretical predictions of physical observables often involve extrapolations to regions that are poorly constrained by laboratory experiments and astrophysical observations. Without properly quantified theoretical errors, such model predictions are of very limited utility. In this contribution we use maximum-likelihood estimation to compute theoretical errors and assess correlations between physical observables. We illustrate the power and elegance of these methods using examples of both pedagogical and realistic interest. In particular, we implement a gaussian approximation to the likelihood function to develop a new relativistic effective interaction constrained by ground-state properties of finite nuclei, their monopole response, and masses of neutron stars.

17 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Journal of Physics G Focus issue "Enhancing the interaction between nuclear experiment and theory through information and statistics" (ISNET)

References in corpus (8)

• Shapiro delay measurement of a two solar mass neutron star
• A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary
• Neutron-Rich Nuclei in Heaven and Earth
• Neutron skin of 208Pb, nuclear symmetry energy, and the parity radius experiment
• Building relativistic mean field models for finite nuclei and neutron stars
• Isotopic dependence of the giant monopole resonance in the even-A ^{112-124}Sn isotopes and the asymmetry term in nuclear incompressibility
• Neutron skins and neutron stars
• Quantifying Correlations Between Isovector Observables and the Density Dependence of Nuclear Symmetry Energy away from Saturation Density

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Quantifying statistical uncertainties in ab initio nuclear physics using Lagrange multipliers
• Uncertainty evaluation and correlation analysis of single-particle energies in phenomenological nuclear mean field: An investigation of propagating uncertainties for independent model parameters