Archives: The course page for the 2000 lectures.

Aims: The purpose of the course is to present the basic mathematical tools needed for the statistical analysis of experimental data. The methods will be practiced by writing and running short computer programs. The course will also include several lectures on the basics of computing in High Energy Physics.

Syllabus: A general outline of the course topics.

Schedule: Mondays 10 to 12, starting 1 October for 8 weeks. Here is a provisional timetable for all of the postgraduate lectures.

Books: The lectures will mainly follow

G. Cowan, Statistical Data Analysis, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.

This book has its own web site, which contains various data analysis resources. Also useful are:

R.J.Barlow, A Guide to the Use of Statistical Methods in the Physical Sciences, John Wiley, 1989;

W.T.Eadie et al., Statistical Methods in Experimental Physics, North-Holland, 1971;

S.Brandt, Statistical and Computational Methods in Data Analysis, Springer, New York, 1998;

L.Lyons, Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physics, CUP, 1986.

You can also download the sections on probability, statistics, and Monte Carlo (ps files) from the Review of Particle Physics by the Particle Data Group.

Lecture Notes (print out and bring to lecture):

Problem sheets:

The 1998/99 exam (please print out for 12 Nov):

Some material for the tutorials and supplementary notes:

• A simple FORTRAN program, make_data.f, a file for compiling and linking it, make_data.lnk, and a file for looking at the output with PAW, plot_data.kumac.
• Another simple FORTRAN program to demonstrate HBOOK routines, test_hbook.f. It calls a subroutine get_another_x_value.f, and the whole thing can be compiled and linked with the script test_hbook.lnk.
• A note on how to use gmake (ps, pdf); the example files Makefile, hello.cc, goodbye.cc, and goodbye.h.
• A FORTRAN program to demonstrate use of the random number generator RANMAR, test_ranmar.f, and a script to compile and link, test_ranmar.lnk.
• Routines for FORTRAN-callable fitting with MINUIT: fit_galileo.f, fcn_galileo.f, fit_galileo.lnk, galileo.dat.
• The same example in C++ can be found in the files here (makefile works for linux).
• Routines for interactive fitting with MINUIT: fitter.f, fcn.f, set_plot_options.f, show_par.f, write_line.f, ps_output.f, fitter.lnk, ls_data.dat, ls_fit.min. A description and sample session of this program is given here, and there is also a plot of the fit: ps, pdf.
• Routines for fitting with MINUIT from PAW with vec/fit: vecfit.kumac, fcn_vecfit.f. Here is some sample data, vecfit_data.dat, and a plot of the fit.
• Materials from the tutorial 13.12.99 at Royal Holloway:
  • The program rambo.f by Kleiss, Stirling and Ellis to generate events uniformly distributed in phase space (needed for the test routines below).
  • A test routine for row-wise ntuples test_rwn.f, and linking script test_rwn.lnk. Look at the ntuple with PAW or read it in with read_rwn.f, read_rwn.lnk. You may want to consult the ntuple section of the HBOOK manual.
  • A test routine for column-wise ntuples test_cwn.f, and linking script test_cwn.lnk. Look at the ntuple with PAW or read it in with read_cwn.f, read_cwn.lnk.
  • The program generate_decays.f for generating 3-body decays according to a chosen matrix element. Needs m2_0_minus.f, m2_1_minus.f, rambo.f, generate_decays.lnk.
  • The program decay_anl.f for analyzing the ntuples produced by generate_decays.f. Needs read_cwn_setup.f, m2_0_minus.f, m2_1_minus.f, rambo.f, decay_anl.lnk.
  • The program fit_dalitz for fitting the relative contributions of 3-body decays of 0- and 1- mesons. The main program is fitter.f, the same as above. Needs fcn_dalitz.f, read_cwn_setup.f, m2_0_minus.f, m2_1_minus.f, set_plot_options.f, show_par.f, write_line.f, ps_output.f, fit_dalitz.lnk, dalitz.min.
  • An ntuple decay_data.hbook containing the momentum vectors from an unknown mixture of 1000 0- and 1- meson decays.
• Information on the neural network program JETNET: The online manual, and the code for JETNET version 3.1. Here is a short test routine test_jetnet.f, which needs generate_xy.f, test_jetnet.lnk. Some HBOOK histograms generated using 2 input nodes, 2 layers and 3 hidden nodes are in test_jetnet.his.
• Materials from the data analysis tutorial on 5 December 2001 at UCL.

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