Open AccessOn the Use of Evidence and Goodness-of-fit Metrics in Exoplanet Atmosphere Interpretation
Author(s) -
Tom J. Wilson
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
research notes of the aas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2515-5172
DOI - 10.3847/2515-5172/ac3984
Subject(s) - exoplanet , atmosphere (unit) , interpretation (philosophy) , suite , goodness of fit , simple (philosophy) , space (punctuation) , computer science , astrobiology , meteorology , physics , astronomy , machine learning , planet , geography , programming language , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , operating system
In exoplanet atmosphere analyses, a suite of retrievals, with and without different chemical components, is often run, with forward models generated across their parameter space. I discuss here potential pitfalls in the interpretation of the statistics of such setups, suggesting a few simple tests to consider when interpreting their results.