This concise set of course-based notes provides the reader with the main concepts and tools needed to perform statistical analyses of experimental data, in particular in the field of high-energy physics (HEP). First, the book provides an introduction to probability theory and basic statistics, mainly intended as a refresher from readers’ advanced undergraduate studies, but also to help them clearly distinguish between the Frequentist and Bayesian approaches and interpretations in subsequent applications. More advanced concepts and applications are gradually introduced, culminating in the chapter on both discoveries and upper limits, as many applications in HEP concern hypothesis testing, where the main goal is often to provide better and better limits so as to eventually be able to distinguish between competing hypotheses, or to rule out some of them altogether. Many worked-out examples will help newcomers to the field and graduate students alike understand the pitfalls involved in applying theoretical concepts to actual data. This new second edition significantly expands on the original material, with more background content (e.g. the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, best linear unbiased estimator), applications (unfolding and regularization procedures, control regions and simultaneous fits, machine learning concepts) and examples (e.g. look-elsewhere effect calculation).

Modern analysis of HEP data needs advanced statistical tools to separate signal from background. This is the first book which focuses on machine learning techniques. It will be of interest to almost every high energy physicist, and, due to its coverage, suitable for students.

This third edition expands on the original material. Large portions of the text have been reviewed and clarified. More emphasis is devoted to machine learning including more modern concepts and examples. This book provides the reader with the main concepts and tools needed to perform statistical analyses of experimental data, in particular in the field of high-energy physics (HEP). It starts with an introduction to probability theory and basic statistics, mainly intended as a refresher from readers’ advanced undergraduate studies, but also to help them clearly distinguish between the Frequentist and Bayesian approaches and interpretations in subsequent applications. Following, the author discusses Monte Carlo methods with emphasis on techniques like Markov Chain Monte Carlo, and the combination of measurements, introducing the best linear unbiased estimator. More advanced concepts and applications are gradually presented, including unfolding and regularization procedures, culminating in the chapter devoted to discoveries and upper limits. The reader learns through many applications in HEP where the hypothesis testing plays a major role and calculations of look-elsewhere effect are also presented. Many worked-out examples help newcomers to the field and graduate students alike understand the pitfalls involved in applying theoretical concepts to actual data.

This practical guide covers the essential tasks in statistical data analysis encountered in high energy physics and provides comprehensive advice for typical questions and problems. The basic methods for inferring results from data are presented as well as tools for advanced tasks such as improving the signal-to-background ratio, correcting detector effects, determining systematics and many others. Concrete applications are discussed in analysis walkthroughs. Each chapter is supplemented by numerous examples and exercises and by a list of literature and relevant links. The book targets a broad readership at all career levels - from students to senior researchers. An accompanying website provides more algorithms as well as up-to-date information and links. * Free solutions manual available for lecturers at www.wiley-vch.de/supplements/

This book is a guide to the practical application of statistics in data analysis as typically encountered in the physical sciences. It is primarily addressed at students and professionals who need to draw quantitative conclusions from experimental data. Although most of the examples are takenfrom particle physics, the material is presented in a sufficiently general way as to be useful to people from most branches of the physical sciences. The first part of the book describes the basic tools of data analysis: concepts of probability and random variables, Monte Carlo techniques,statistical tests, and methods of parameter estimation. The last three chapters are somewhat more specialized than those preceding, covering interval estimation, characteristic functions, and the problem of correcting distributions for the effects of measurement errors (unfolding).

The first edition of this classic book has become the authoritative reference for physicists desiring to master the finer points of statistical data analysis. This second edition contains all the important material of the first, much of it unavailable from any other sources. In addition, many chapters have been updated with considerable new material, especially in areas concerning the theory and practice of confidence intervals, including the important Feldman-Cousins method. Both frequentist and Bayesian methodologies are presented, with a strong emphasis on techniques useful to physicists and other scientists in the interpretation of experimental data and comparison with scientific theories. This is a valuable textbook for advanced graduate students in the physical sciences as well as a reference for active researchers.

This concise set of course-based notes provides the reader with the main concepts and tools to perform statistical analysis of experimental data, in particular in the field of high-energy physics (HEP). First, an introduction to probability theory and basic statistics is given, mainly as reminder from advanced undergraduate studies, yet also in view to clearly distinguish the Frequentist versus Bayesian approaches and interpretations in subsequent applications. More advanced concepts and applications are gradually introduced, culminating in the chapter on upper limits as many applications in HEP concern hypothesis testing, where often the main goal is to provide better and better limits so as to be able to distinguish eventually between competing hypotheses or to rule out some of them altogether. Many worked examples will help newcomers to the field and graduate students to understand the pitfalls in applying theoretical concepts to actual data.