Block Thresholding on the Sphere

The aim of this paper is to study the nonparametric regression estimators on the sphere built by the needlet block thresholding. The block thresholding procedure proposed here follows the method introduced by Hall, Kerkyacharian and Picard in [Hall, Kerkyacharian, Picard, (1998), (1999)], modified to exploit the properties of the spherical standard needlets. Therefore, we will investigate on their convergence rates, attaining their adaptive properties over the Besov balls. This work is strongly motivated by issues arising in Cosmology and Astrophysics, concerning in particular the analysis of cosmic rays.