Adding a systematic uncertainty to the signal estimation in the on/off-zone measurements

Abstract

The measurements with the background estimation from an off-zone are widely used in astrophysics, accelerator physics and other areas. Usually, the expected number of the background events in the off-zone and in the on-zone is known with a limited precision. This fact should be included as a systematic uncertainty. In this note an overview of the statistical methods which estimate the range and the significance of the measured signal is done. The method which includes a systematic uncertainty is developed for the on/off-zone measurements and compared with other existing methods.