About statistical-parallax algorithms
André Heck, J. A. Fernley · 1998
. The results obtained by two algorithms of statistical parallaxes applied to a large sample of RR Lyrae stars are compared. They show no significant difference and confirm the validity of the earlier approach based on the principle of maximum likelihood. Key words: RR Lyrae stars -- statistical parallaxes -- algorithms 1. Introduction In a recent paper, Fernley et al. (1997) have studied the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars by using a statisticalparallax algorithm developed by Hawley et al. (1986). This method has been introduced as an improvement over earlier algorithms such as: -- the maximum-likelihood algorithm developed by Clube and Jones and applied to RR Lyrae stars in several studies (Clube & Jones 1971, 1974; Clube & Dawe 1980); this method will be called herafter the CJD algorithm; -- another maximum-likelihood method introduced by Rigal (1958), subsequently improved by Jung (1968, 1970) and generalized by Heck (1975a); this method, called hereafter the RJH algorit...