Statistical methods used in ATLAS for exclusion and discovery

Abstract

The statistical methods used by the ATLAS Collaboration for setting upper limits or establishing a discovery are reviewed, as they are fundamental ingredients in the search for new phenomena. The analyses published so far adopted different approaches, choosing a frequentist or a Bayesian or a hybrid frequentist-Bayesian method to perform a search for new physics and set upper limits. In this note, after the introduction of the necessary basic concepts of statistical hypothesis testing, a few recommendations are made about the preferred approaches to be followed in future analyses.