Wednesday 7 April 2010

Speaker:   Prof. Louis Lyons   (University of Oxford / Imperial College)

Title:   Statistical issues relevant to search experiments in High Energy Physics

Abstract:

Searches for new particles can result in discovery claims or in exclusion limits. This talk discusses
some of the statistical issues that arise in such analyses. Topics include Bayesian and frequentist
approaches to limit setting; coverage; what p-values are and what they are not; the 'Look Elsewhere
Effect'; combining p-values; CL_s; etc. Hopefully the discovery issues will be relevant for the upcoming
LHC running.