A statistical analysis of two-dimensional patterns and its application to astrometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a statistical method for analyzing two-dimensional patterns, applied to Gaia-ESA data, capable of detecting physical phenomena like star systems and microlensing amidst random backgrounds.

Contribution

A novel statistical procedure for analyzing 2D patterns, specifically tailored for astrophysical data, demonstrating sensitivity to measurement accuracy and physical effects.

Findings

Confirmed binary and ternary star systems in Gaia data

Method sensitive to measurement accuracy limits

Discussed potential detection of gravitational microlensing

Abstract

Here we develop a general statistical procedure for the analysis of finite two-dimensional (2D) patterns inspired by the analysis of heavy-ion data. The method is used in the study of publicly available data obtained by the Gaia-ESA mission. We prove that the procedure can be sensitive to the limits of accuracy of measurement, and can also clearly identify the real physical effects on the large background of random distributions. As an example, the method confirms the presence of binary and ternary star systems in the studied data. At the same time, the possibility of the statistical detection of the gravitational microlensing effect is discussed.