Practical statistics for particle physics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23730/CYRSP-2021-005.197Abstract
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'.
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