Experimental Methods in Nuclear, Particle, and Astrophysics - PHYS736
course info | lectures | homework | projects | other material | feedbackCourse Description
Topics: Interaction of radiation and particles with matter; common particle detection techniques in accelerator and nonaccelerator experiments; detectors at colliding beam machines, in neutrino physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and experimental cosmology; experimental strategies in detector design; principles of detector simulation and monte carlo methods, error analysis and statistical techniques in data analysis.Course Information
- circular
- syllabus - revised January 19, 2010
- textbooks and reading - revised April 17, 2010
- Physics Library Course Reserve Webpage - this page contains all password protected materials, access to textbook chapters for course use etc.
Lectures & Course Schedule
The slides shown in class only supplement but not substitute the in-class lecture notes.# | Day | Date | Topics | Required Reading | Homework | Slides |
1 | Wed | Jan 19, 2010 |
Radiation and Matter: - basic nuclear processes - radiation sources |
Leo, chapter 1 PDG, common radioactive sources |
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2 | Mon | Jan 25, 2010 |
Radiation and Matter: - radiation sources and radioactivity Interaction of Radiation with Matter: - neutrons |
Leo, chapter 2 PDG, interaction with matter PDG, common radioactive sources |
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3 | Wed | Jan 27, 2010 |
Interaction of Radiation with Matter: - photons - charged particles |
Longair, chapter 4 Leo, chapter 2 PDG, interaction with matter |
HW#1 due Feb 8 |
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4 | Mon | Feb 1, 2010 |
Interaction of Radiation with Matter: - charged particles |
Longair, chapter 2 Longair, chapter 3 Longair, chapter 4 Leo, chapter 2 PDG, interaction with matter |
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5 | Wed | Feb 3, 2010 |
Interaction of Radiation with Matter: - charged particles - radiation shielding, dose |
Longair, chapter 2 Longair, chapter 3 Leo, chapter 2 PDG, interaction with matter PDG, radoactivity/radiation protection |
HW#2 due Feb 15 |
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Mon | Feb 8, 2010 | no lecture, to be rescheduled - | HW#1 due today | |||
Mon | Feb 15, 2010 | no lecture, to be rescheduled - | HW#2 due today | |||
6 | Wed | Feb 17, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - basic detector properties: - energy resolution - response function - dead time |
Leo, chapter 5 Knoll, chapter 4 PDG, detectors for non-accelerator physics PDG, detectors for accelerators |
HW#3 due Feb 22 |
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7 | Mon | Feb 22, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - dead time - scintillation detectors |
Leo, chapter 7 Knoll, chapter 8 PDG, detectors for non-accelerator physics PDG, detectors for accelerators Meeks and Siegel, Am.J.Phys.,Volume 76, Issue 6, pp. 589-590 Lucke, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 47, 766 (1976), doi:10.1063/1.1134733 |
HW#3 due today | |
8 | Wed | Feb 24, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - ionization detectors |
Leo, chapter 6 Knoll, chapter 5-7 PDG, detectors for non-accelerator physics PDG, detectors for accelerators |
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9 | Mon | Mar 1, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - detectors for accelerator experiments - ATLAS and CMS |
PDG, detectors for non-accelerator
physics PDG, detectors for accelerators |
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10 | Wed | Mar 3, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - semiconductor detectors |
Leo, chapter 10 PDG, detectors for non-accelerator physics PDG, detectors for accelerators |
HW #4 due Mar 10 |
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11 | Mon | Mar 8, 2010 |
Statistics: - introduction - treatment of experimental data |
Leo, chapter 4 PDG, probability PDG, statistics |
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12 | Wed | Mar 10, 2010 |
Statistics: - syst and stat errors - maximum likelihood - parameter estimation least square method |
Leo, chapter 4 PDG, intro PDG, probability PDG, statistics |
HW #5 due Mar 17 |
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13 | Wed | Mar 15, 2010 |
Statistics: - Bayesian/Frequentist approach - hypothesis testing and significance - confidence intervals and limits - Feldman/Cousin method |
Leo, chapter 4 PDG, probability PDG, statistics |
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14 | Wed | Mar 17, 2010 |
Statistics: - Bayesian/Frequentist approach - confidence intervals and limits Monte Carlo Techniques: - random numbers |
Bevington, chapter 5 PDG, monte carlo techniques PDG, MC particle numbering scheme Feldman and Cousin, Phys. Rev. D 57, 3873-3889 |
HW#5 due today HW #6 due Apr 7 |
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15 | Wed | Mar 22, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - thermal detectors - microcalorimeters in astrophysis |
Enss, Cryogenic Particle Detection |
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16 | Wed | Mar 24, 2010 |
Particle Detectors: - air showers - ground based air shower detectors - radio detection |
Anchordoqui and Montaruli, Ann.Rev.Nuc.Part.Phys, 2009 |
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Mon | Mar 29, 2010 | no lecture | spring recess | |||
Wed | Mar 31, 2010 | no lecture | spring recess | |||
17 | Mon | Apr 5, 2010 |
Statistics: - goodness of fit - hypothesis testing |
James, chapters 10-11 Barlow, chapters 7-9 PDG, statistics |
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18 | Wed | Apr 7, 2010 |
Numerical Methods: - Taylor series - finite difference calculus - interpolation and extrapolation |
Hornbeck, chapters 2-4 |
HW#6 due today |
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19 | Mon | Apr 12, 2010 |
Numerical Methods: - interpolation and extrapolation - data smoothing - roots of equations - numerical integration |
Hornbeck, chapters 5, 8 Bevington, appendices A-B |
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20 | Wed | Apr 14, 2010 |
Numerical Methods: - simultaneous equations - matrix eigenvalue problem Analysis Techniques: - blind analysis |
Hornbeck, chapters 6,9,10 Bevington, appendices A-B Klein and Roodman, Ann.Rev.Nuc.Part.Phys.,2005 |
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21 | Mon | Apr 19, 2010 |
Accelerator Techniques: - introduction & history - basic accelerator techniques |
Henley, chapter 2 PDG, accelerator physics of colliders PDG, high-energy collider parameters |
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22 | Wed | Apr 21, 2010 |
Accelerator Techniques: - accelerator machines - collisions Course Review: - what did we learn? |
PDG, accelerator physics of colliders PDG, high-energy collider parameters |
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23 | Mon | Apr 26, 2010 |
Course Project: - independent work period |
Benka, Physics Today, Dec 2008 effective science communication |
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24 | Wed | Apr 28, 2010 |
Course Project: - independent work period |
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25 | Mon | May 7, 2010 |
Course Project: - final presentations |
finalpresentations | ||
26 | Wed | May 14, 2010 |
Course Project: - final presentations |
finalpresentations |
Homework & Solutions
- homework #1 - due Feb 8, 2010
- homework #2 - due Feb 15, 2010
- homework #3 - due Feb 22, 2010
- homework #4 - due March 10, 2010
- homework #5 - due March 17, 2010
- homework #6 - due April 7, 2010
Course Projects
- instructions and list of projects
- outline of course projects
- preparing the presentation for your course project
- final course presentations on May 7 and May 14, 2010 at noon
Other Material
- "Towards the Observation of Signal over Background in Future Experiments", physics/9808016v1
- "On Observability of Signal over Background", physics/9809037v2
- "A simple explanation for DAMA with moderate channeling", arxiv.org/abs/0910.0007
- "Scintillation studies of Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) down to a temperature of 6 K", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 594 (2008) 358?361
Effective Science Communication
A collection of links from and to variuos people.- Talks and Presentations
- Who is listening? What do they hear?, Stephen Benka, Physics Today, Dec. 2008.
- How to give a science talk, Stephanie Pfirman, Martin Stute, and Dallas Abbott, Columbia University, 2006
- How to write and give a good scientific talk, Janet Conrad, 2005
- How to add value to your slides, Warren Wiscombe, 2009
- Hints for Good Talks, Hendrik Schatz, 2010
- Posters
- Writing
- The Science of Scientific Writing Gopen and Swan, American Scientist, Nov/Dec 1990
- Right your Writing, Judith Swan, The Scientist, vol. 23, 2009
Course Feedback
Click the following links to provide anonymous feedback on- official course evaluations, April 19-26, 2010
- end-of-course survey
- exercises#2
- exercises#1
- general comments&suggestions
Last modified: January 18, 2011, 10:41 am.