Searching for localized cosmic particle sources with an unbinned maximum likelihood approach

An unbinned method to search for localized cosmic particle sources is presented. The expected source shape, the measured background shape, and the estimated angular resolution of individual tracks are used to construct a likelihood function. Estimates of the flux, the position and—in particular—the significance of a source can be readily obtained. A full confidence belt construction to deduce flux limits is presented. General statistical issues when searching for sources of unknown position are discussed.