New estimators for galactic ellipticity estimation

Abstract

Based on the reformulation of the problem of galactic shape measurement, introduced by Tessore and Bridle, we develop and test new estimators which more efficiently solve what is now a statistical problem. Frequently only a single measurement is available from an observation made by telescopes, which may be distorted due to noise introduced in the measuring process. To soften these effects, we investigate a number of approaches, such as scaling, data censoring, or mixtures of estimators. We then run simulations for various set-ups which emulate real-life conditions, to determine practical suitability of all proposed estimation approaches.