Abstract. Statistical hypothesis tests in wavelet analysis are reviewed and developed. The output of a recently developed cumulative area-wise is shown to be the ensemble mean of individual estimates of statistical significance calculated from a geometric test assessing statistical significance based on the area of contiguous regions (i.e. patches) of point-wise significance. This new interpretation is then used to construct a simplified version of the cumulative area-wise test to improve computational efficiency. Ideal examples are used to show that the geometric and cumulative area-wise tests are unable to differentiate features arising from singularity-like structures from those associated with periodicities. A cumulative arc-wise test is therefore developed to test for periodicities in a strict sense. A previously proposed topological significance test is formalized using persistent homology profiles (PHPs) measuring the number of patches and holes corresponding to the set of all point-wise significance values. Ideal examples show that the PHPs can be used to distinguish time series containing signal components from those that are purely noise. To demonstrate the practical uses of the existing and newly developed statistical methodologies, a first comprehensive wavelet analysis of India rainfall is also provided. A R-software package has been written by the author to implement the various testing procedures.
"Statistical Hypothesis Testing in Wavelet Analysis: Theoretical Developments and Applications to India Rainfall” by Justin A. Schulte et al.