Practical statistics for particle physics | CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-US" xml:lang="en-US"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title> Practical statistics for particle physics | CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings </title> <meta name="generator" content="Open Journal Systems 3.3.0.16"> <meta name="gs_meta_revision" content="1.1"/> <meta name="citation_journal_title" content="CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings"/> <meta name="citation_journal_abbrev" content="CERN YR School Proc."/> <meta name="citation_issn" content="2519-805X"/> <meta name="citation_author" content="R.J. Barlow"/> <meta name="citation_title" content="Practical statistics for particle physics"/> <meta name="citation_language" content="en"/> <meta name="citation_date" content="2021"/> <meta name="citation_volume" content="5"/> <meta name="citation_firstpage" content="197"/> <meta name="citation_lastpage" content="197"/> <meta name="citation_doi" content="10.23730/CYRSP-2021-005.197"/> <meta name="citation_abstract_html_url" content="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/article/view/1384"/> <meta name="citation_pdf_url" content="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/article/download/1384/1157"/> <link rel="schema.DC" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" /> <meta name="DC.Creator.PersonalName" content="R.J. Barlow"/> <meta name="DC.Date.created" scheme="ISO8601" content="2022-09-05"/> <meta name="DC.Date.dateSubmitted" scheme="ISO8601" content="2022-09-05"/> <meta name="DC.Date.issued" scheme="ISO8601" content="2022-09-05"/> <meta name="DC.Date.modified" scheme="ISO8601" content="2022-09-05"/> <meta name="DC.Description" xml:lang="en" content="This is the write-up of a set of lectures given at the CERN European School of High Energy Physics in St Petersburg, Russia in September 2019, to an audience of PhD students in all branches of particle physics. They cover the different meanings of `probability', particularly Frequentist and Bayesian, the binomial, the Poisson and the Gaussian distributions, hypothesis testing, estimation, errors (including asymmetric and systematic errors) and goodness of fit. Several different methods used in setting upper limits are explained, followed by a discussion on why 5 sigma are conventionally required for a 'discovery'."/> <meta name="DC.Format" scheme="IMT" content="application/pdf"/> <meta name="DC.Identifier" content="1384"/> <meta name="DC.Identifier.pageNumber" content="197"/> <meta name="DC.Identifier.DOI" content="10.23730/CYRSP-2021-005.197"/> <meta name="DC.Identifier.URI" content="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/article/view/1384"/> <meta name="DC.Language" scheme="ISO639-1" content="en"/> <meta name="DC.Rights" content="Copyright (c) 2022 CERN"/> <meta name="DC.Rights" content="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"/> <meta name="DC.Source" content="CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings"/> <meta name="DC.Source.ISSN" content="2519-805X"/> <meta name="DC.Source.Volume" content="5"/> <meta name="DC.Source.URI" content="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP"/> <meta name="DC.Title" content="Practical statistics for particle physics"/> <meta name="DC.Type" content="Text.Serial.Journal"/> <meta name="DC.Type.articleType" content="Articles"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/$$$call$$$/page/page/css?name=stylesheet" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/$$$call$$$/page/page/css?name=font" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/lib/pkp/styles/fontawesome/fontawesome.css?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/css" /> </head> <body class="pkp_page_article pkp_op_view" dir="ltr"> <div class="pkp_structure_page"> <header class="pkp_structure_head" id="headerNavigationContainer" role="banner"> <nav class="cmp_skip_to_content" aria-label="Jump to content links"> <a href="#pkp_content_main">Skip to main content</a> <a href="#siteNav">Skip to main navigation menu</a> <a href="#pkp_content_footer">Skip to site footer</a> </nav> <div class="pkp_head_wrapper"> <div class="pkp_site_name_wrapper"> <button class="pkp_site_nav_toggle"> <span>Open Menu</span> </button> <div class="pkp_site_name"> <a href=" https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/index " class="is_text">CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings</a> </div> </div> <nav class="pkp_site_nav_menu" aria-label="Site Navigation"> <a id="siteNav"></a> <div class="pkp_navigation_primary_row"> <div class="pkp_navigation_primary_wrapper"> <ul id="navigationPrimary" class="pkp_navigation_primary pkp_nav_list"> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/current"> Current </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/archive"> Archives </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/announcement"> Announcements </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about"> About </a> <ul> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about"> About the Journal </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about/submissions"> Submissions </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about/editorialTeam"> Editorial Team </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about/privacy"> Privacy Statement </a> </li> <li class=""> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about/contact"> Contact </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <div class="pkp_navigation_search_wrapper"> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/search" class="pkp_search pkp_search_desktop"> <span class="fa fa-search" aria-hidden="true"></span> Search </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="pkp_navigation_user_wrapper" id="navigationUserWrapper"> <ul id="navigationUser" class="pkp_navigation_user pkp_nav_list"> <li class="profile"> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/user/register"> Register </a> </li> <li class="profile"> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/login"> Login </a> </li> </ul> </div> </nav> </div> </header> <div class="pkp_structure_content"> <div class="pkp_structure_main" role="main"> <a id="pkp_content_main"></a> <div class="page page_article"> <nav class="cmp_breadcrumbs" role="navigation" aria-label="You are here:"> <ol> <li> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/index"> Home </a> <span class="separator">/</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/archive"> Archives </a> <span class="separator">/</span> </li> <li> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/view/149"> Vol. 5 (2021): Proceedings of the 2019 European School of High-Energy Physics, St Petersburg, Russia, 4–17 September 2019 </a> <span class="separator">/</span> </li> <li class="current" aria-current="page"> <span aria-current="page"> Articles </span> </li> </ol> </nav> <article class="obj_article_details"> <h1 class="page_title"> Practical statistics for particle physics </h1> <div class="row"> <div class="main_entry"> <section class="item authors"> <h2 class="pkp_screen_reader">Authors</h2> <ul class="authors"> <li> <span class="name"> R.J. Barlow </span> </li> </ul> </section> <section class="item doi"> <h2 class="label"> DOI: </h2> <span class="value"> <a href="https://doi.org/10.23730/CYRSP-2021-005.197"> https://doi.org/10.23730/CYRSP-2021-005.197 </a> </span> </section> <section class="item abstract"> <h2 class="label">Abstract</h2> <p>This is the write-up of a set of lectures given at the CERN European School of High Energy Physics in St Petersburg, Russia in September 2019, to an audience of PhD students in all branches of particle physics. They cover the different meanings of `probability', particularly Frequentist and Bayesian, the binomial, the Poisson and the Gaussian distributions, hypothesis testing, estimation, errors (including asymmetric and systematic errors) and goodness of fit. Several different methods used in setting upper limits are explained, followed by a discussion on why 5 sigma are conventionally required for a 'discovery'.<br><br></p> </section> </div> <div class="entry_details"> <div class="item cover_image"> <div class="sub_item"> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/view/149"> <img src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/public/journals/10/cover_issue_149_en_US.png" alt=""> </a> </div> </div> <div class="item galleys"> <h2 class="pkp_screen_reader"> Downloads </h2> <ul class="value galleys_links"> <li> <a class="obj_galley_link pdf" href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/article/view/1384/1157"> PDF </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="item published"> <section class="sub_item"> <h2 class="label"> Published </h2> <div class="value"> <span>2022-09-05</span> </div> </section> </div> <div class="item issue"> <section class="sub_item"> <h2 class="label"> Issue </h2> <div class="value"> <a class="title" href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/issue/view/149"> Vol. 5 (2021): Proceedings of the 2019 European School of High-Energy Physics, St Petersburg, Russia, 4–17 September 2019 </a> </div> </section> <section class="sub_item"> <h2 class="label"> Section </h2> <div class="value"> Articles </div> </section> </div> <div class="item copyright"> <h2 class="label"> License </h2> <p>Copyright (c) 2022 CERN</p> <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="//i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><p>This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p>Authors who publish with this publication agree to the following terms:</p><ol type="a"><li>CERN retains copyright and publishes the work licensed under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank"><strong>Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0</strong></a> that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.</li><li>Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this series.</li><li>Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See <a href="http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html" target="_new">The Effect of Open Access</a>).</li></ol> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> <div class="pkp_structure_footer_wrapper" role="contentinfo"> <a id="pkp_content_footer"></a> <div class="pkp_structure_footer"> <div class="pkp_footer_content"> <p><span style="left: 82.2863px; top: 706.626px; font-size: 17.5931px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.923771);">ISSN 2519-8041 (Print) / </span><span style="left: 82.2863px; top: 728.476px; font-size: 17.5931px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(0.934808);">ISSN 2519-805X (Online)</span></p> </div> <div class="pkp_brand_footer" role="complementary"> <a href="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CYRSP/about/aboutThisPublishingSystem"> <img alt="More information about the publishing system, Platform and Workflow by OJS/PKP." src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/templates/images/ojs_brand.png"> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/components/jquery/jquery.min.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/components/jqueryui/jquery-ui.min.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/plugins/themes/default/js/lib/popper/popper.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/plugins/themes/default/js/lib/bootstrap/util.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/plugins/themes/default/js/lib/bootstrap/dropdown.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="https://e-publishing.cern.ch/plugins/themes/default/js/main.js?v=3.3.0.16" type="text/javascript"></script> </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Practical statistics for particle physics | CERN Yellow Reports: School Proceedings