  Under the banner of `Big Data', the detection and classification of structure
in extremely large, high dimensional, data sets, is, one of the central
statistical challenges of our times. Among the most intriguing approaches to
this challenge is `TDA', or `Topological Data Analysis', one of the primary
aims of which is providing non-metric, but topologically informative,
pre-analyses of data sets which make later, more quantitative analyses
feasible. While TDA rests on strong mathematical foundations from Topology, in
applications it has faced challenges due to an inability to handle issues of
statistical reliability and robustness and, most importantly, in an inability
to make scientific claims with verifiable levels of statistical confidence. We
propose a methodology for the parametric representation, estimation, and
replication of persistence diagrams, the main diagnostic tool of TDA. The power
of the methodology lies in the fact that even if only one persistence diagram
is available for analysis -- the typical case for big data applications --
replications can be generated to allow for conventional statistical hypothesis
testing. The methodology is conceptually simple and computationally practical,
and provides a broadly effective statistical procedure for persistence diagram
TDA analysis. We demonstrate the basic ideas on a toy example, and the power of
the approach in a novel and revealing analysis of CMB non-homogeneity.
