Evaluation of the covariance matrix of estimated resonance parameters

Abstract In the resonance region nuclear resonance parameters are mostly obtained by a least square adjustment of a model to experimental data. Derived parameters can be mutually correlated through the adjustment procedure as well as through common experimental or model uncertainties. In this contribution we investigate four different methods to propagate the additional covariance caused by experimental or model uncertainties into the evaluation of the covariance matrix of the estimated parameters: (1) including the additional covariance into the experimental covariance matrix based on calculated or theoretical estimates of the data; (2) including the uncertainty affected parameter in the adjustment procedure; (3) evaluation of the full covariance matrix by Monte Carlo sampling of the common parameter; and (4) retroactively including the additional covariance by using the marginalization procedure of Habert et al.