Trial factors for the look elsewhere effect in high energy physics

Excerpts

When searching for a new resonance somewhere in a possible mass range, the significance of observing a local excess of events must take into account the probability of observing such an excess anywhere in the range. This is the so called “look elsewhere effect”. The effect can be quantified in terms of a trial factor, which is the ratio between the probability of observing the excess at some fixed mass point, to the probability of observing it anywhere in the range.

Reference

Eilam Gross, Ofer Vitells “Trial factors for the look elsewhere effect in high energy physics” (2010) DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1470-8

@Article{gross2010,
  title = {Trial factors for the look elsewhere effect in high energy physics},
  volume = {70},
  issn = {1434-6052},
  url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1470-8},
  doi = {10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1470-8},
  number = {1–2},
  journal = {The European Physical Journal C},
  publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
  author = {Gross, Eilam and Vitells, Ofer},
  year = {2010},
  month = {oct},
  pages = {525–530}
}