Best linear unbiased estimation of the nuclear masses

This paper presents methods to provide an optimal evaluation of the nuclear masses. The techniques used for this purpose come from data assimilation (DA) that allows combining, in an optimal and consistent way, information coming from experiment and from numerical modelling. Using all the available information, it leads to improve not only masses evaluations, but also their uncertainties. Each newly evaluated mass value is associated with some accuracy that is sensibly reduced with respect to the values given in tables, especially in the case of the less well-known masses. In this paper, we first introduce a useful tool of DA, the Best Linear Unbiased Estimation (BLUE). This BLUE method is applied to nuclear mass tables and some results of improvement are shown. Then finally, some post validation diagnostics, demonstrating that the method has been used in optimal conditions, are described and used to validate the results. keyword Data assimilation, Best Linear Unbiased Estimation, BLUE, nuclear mass