Superplot: a graphical interface for plotting and analysing MultiNest output

Abstract

We present an application, Superplot, for calculating and plotting statistical quantities relevant to parameter inference from a "chain" of samples drawn from a parameter space, produced by e.g. MultiNest. A simple graphical interface allows one to browse a chain of many variables quickly, and make publication quality plots of, inter alia, one- and two-dimensional profile likelihood, posterior pdf (with kernel density estimation), confidence intervals and credible regions. In this short manual, we document installation and basic usage, and define all statistical quantities and conventions. The code is fully compatible with Linux, Windows and Mac OSX. Furthermore, if preferred, all functionality is available through the command line rather than a graphical interface.

Comments: 19 pages, 4 colour figures, added information about Mac and combining plots into a single figure