  We analyze the Q0957+561 A,B brightness record with 3 types of wavelets to
define properties that are independent of the nature of the analyzing wavelet.
The wavelet analysis picks out features having arbitrary shape, and localizes
them in time and fits amplitudes.
  We find that independently of the analyzing wavelet, the mean wavelet
amplitude is zero, meaning that there are as many positive as negative
brightness spikes. For all wavelet durations the fitted amplitudes are equal in
the A and B images, except that image B may have larger amplitude brightness
fluctuations for the longest duration 64-day features. Independently of the
wavelet family fitted or of the kind of statistical measure of wavelet
amplitude, the fitted amplitudes seem to increase as a linear function of the
wavelet duration, with the mean absolute deviation about a factor of 10 greater
for 64-day wavelets than for 2-day wavelets. The underlying physical process
producing the brightness fluctuations is found to have more power in long
duration wavelets than in short duration wavelets than a process dominated by
white noise. Thus it is established that the rapid brightness fluctuations
observed in the Q0957 images A and B are not the result of observational noise.
