Look-elsewhere effect

The look-elsewhere effect is a phenomenon in the statistical analysis of scientific experiments, particularly in complex particle physics experiments, where an apparently statistically significant observation may have actually arisen by chance because of the size of the parameter space to be searched.[1][2][3][4]

Once the possibility of look-elsewhere error in an analysis is acknowledged, it can be compensated for by careful application of standard mathematical techniques.[5]

The term gained some media attention in 2011, in the context of the search for the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Lyons, L. (2008). "Open statistical issues in Particle Physics". The Annals of Applied Statistics 2 (3): 887. doi:10.1214/08-AOAS163.  edit
  2. ^ "Synopsis: Controlling for the “look-elsewhere effect”". American Physical Society. 2011. http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.101801. 
  3. ^ Lori Ann White (August 12, 2011). "Word of the Week: Look Elsewhere Effect". Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory. https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features/word-week-look-elsewhere-effect. 
  4. ^ Tommaso Dorigo (2011-08-19). "Should you get excited by your data? Let the Look-Elsewhere Effect decide". CMS Collaboration. http://cms.web.cern.ch/news/should-you-get-excited-your-data-let-look-elsewhere-effect-decide. 
  5. ^ Gross, E.; Vitells, O. (2010). "Trial factors for the look elsewhere effect in high energy physics". The European Physical Journal C 70: 525. doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1470-8.  edit
  6. ^ Tom Chivers (2011-12-13). "An unconfirmed sighting of the elusive Higgs boson". Daily Telegraph. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100123873/an-unconfirmed-sighting-of-the-elusive-higgs-boson/.