A fast, always positive definite and normalizable approximation of non-Gaussian likelihoods

Abstract

In this paper we extent the previously published DALI-approximation for likelihoods to cases in which the parameter dependency is in the covariance matrix. The approximation recovers non-Gaussian likelihoods, and reduces to the Fisher matrix approach in the case of Gaussianity. It works with the minimal assumptions of having Gaussian errors on the data, and a covariance matrix that possesses a converging Taylor approximation. The resulting approximation works in cases of severe parameter degeneracies and in cases where the Fisher matrix is singular. It is at least $1000$ times faster than a typical Monte Carlo Markov Chain run over the same parameter space. Two example applications, to cases of extremely non-Gaussian likelihoods, are presented -- one demonstrates how the method succeeds in reconstructing completely a ring-shaped likelihood. A public code is released here: http://lnasellentin.github.io/DALI/