PHY5007Z - Data Science For Particle Physics
12 credits at NQF level 9
Entry Requirements:
AST5003F DP requirements: None. Assessment: Students will work on an approved research topic on which a minor dissertation must be presented for formal examination. Course entry requirements: Core modules of the Masters course in Data Science.
Course Outline:
This course introduces students to the important computational aspects of high-energy nuclear and particle physics research. Using examples from current research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the students are introduced to: the basic principles of high-energy physics, the Grid computing model employed by the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), the simulation of interactions between subatomic particles and their detection, the ROOT data analysis tool used by all the large high-energy physics collaborations, the signal extraction and significance estimation techniques employed by the most recent particle discoveries including concepts like nuisance parameters and the look-elsewhere effect.