PHYSTAT-nu 2019

For Physicists

 

 

The following books ad articles are suggested as prior reading to help provide some background information on statistical issues in particle physics analyses. Many are available freely online. We do not expect participants to read them all. Particle Data Group Book review on Statistics, Glen Cowan (There are also sections on Probability Theory and on Monte Carlo Techniques.) This is a short summary, and not intended to be a tutorial CDF Statistics Committee web-page Contains links to several interesting notes e.g.: "Likelihood" Louis Lyons "Bayes or Frequentism?"  Louis Lyons "Methods for comparing two hypotheses" Louis Lyons "Simple facts about p-values"  Craig Blocker et al. Extended maximum likelihood (R. Barlow) "Why isn't every physicist a Bayesian" Bob Cousins A simple example illustrating the different statistical methods of estimating parameter values and uncertainties "Systematic Errors" (Joel Heinrich et al) "A Unified Approach to the Classical Statistical Analysis of Small Signals" (Gary Feldman and Bob Cousins) Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics (Glen Cowan, Kyle Cranmer, Eilam Gross and Ofer Vitells) "Procedure for the LHC Higgs boson search combination in Summer 2011" (ATLAS and CMS collaborations) Below are some suggested books about statistical methods in experimental physics: "Statistical Data Analysis" Glen Cowan L. Lyons, "Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physicists", (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1986). F. James, "Statistical Methods in Experimental Physics", 2nd ed., (World Scientific, Singapore, 2007) O. Behnke, K. Kroeninger, G. Schott and T. Schoerner-Sadenius, "A Practical Guide to Statistical Methods" (Wiley-VCH 2013)