Lost in unfolded space – part I

by Andrea Giammanco

This series of posts is about an ill-posed mathematical problem, and will marginally touch particle physics and management decisions in HEP analysis groups.

The ill-posed problem is the so called “unfolding” problem. Saying ill-posed is not a judgment about the value of the problem but it has to be intended in the mathematical meaning. (Although many colleagues

About LIP

by João Varela

The Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas, LIP, was created to exploit the unique opportunities created for fundamental research in Portugal by the country’s accession to CERN in 1985. LIP brought experimental particle physics in Portugal to a truly international ground and shall continue to lead and develop this effort, ensuring the full participation of the national scientific community in the experimental discovery of the fundamental laws of the Universe.

Current challenges

Events This Summer

by the AMVA4NewPhysics press office

This summer the AMVA4NewPhysics network enters a phase of intense activities, on multiple fronts.

On one side there are events of interest of the network:

• We already reported here about the SOS school of statistics organized by IN2P3, Lyon and Grenoble. The school, which took place at l’Escandille, in Autrans, between May 30^th and June 3^rd, saw the participation as speakers of two network members, Julian Donini and Tommaso Dorigo; and the participation as attendees of several other network members, including Giles, Anna, and Emmanuel.

Overview of a statistical technique: the PCA

by Alessia Saggio

Hello everybody,

As promised in my previous post, I’m gonna spend some words about a statistical technique that finds application in many fields such as Particle Physics, Neuroscience, and Computer Vision called Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

Basically, the Principal Component Analysis is a way to identify patterns in data and to catch similarities and differences between different classes of data. In other words,

A 3-Month Internship at CERN for YOU

by the AMVA4NewPhysics press office

Sorry if the title of this post is a bit deceiving – this post is addressed specifically to Italian students in HEP, at the level of “Laurea Magistrale” or first year PhD students.

So, the INFN has an opening for 16 internship positions at CERN, TRIUMF, Fermilab, and KEK. The students will spend their time on a project chosen among 25 different work plans. They will be followed full-time by an advisor at the laboratory. The gross salary is of 8064 euro. The details of the positions can be obtained

Science, statistics, and subjectivity

by Giles Strong

So, I’m back from my statistics school in Autrans, and Lisbon has managed to get even hotter (currently 31 °C!). Luckily I’m escaping off to Sweden soon, where Google informs me that the weather is much more acceptable – 18 °C. Anyway, I’ve had a bit of time to digest the topics covered during the school, one of which was Bayesian statistics.

I’d had an introduction to Bayesian statistics before at a two-day workshop during my Glasgow masters, and had kind of got the gist of it, but forgotten

A LGBT-Friendly Site

by Tommaso Dorigo

There is little one can say about yesterday’s horrible massacre in Florida without sounding rhetoric. Not to mention the fact that it is being spun to reinforce one’s own beliefs or political agenda. Gun control laws, wars of religion, war to religions. Solidariety to the families of the fallen ones, even by those who could not care less. All of this is filling our social media feeds. People have opinions, and like to

News from the Machine Learning Course at CERN

by Alessia Saggio

Hi everybody,

still at CERN for the last lecture of the Machine Learning Course that started on Monday and that’s almost over. The classes are taught by Dr. Ilya Narsky, a world-known expert on Machine Learning Techniques for High Energy Physics.

First of all, let me say that I’m very happy of having the chance

Italian HOSPITALity

by Greg Kotkowski

Although a PhD study should be mostly focused on the scientific aspects, there is much more of the nonacademic wisdom to be learnt. Being in another country with different culture, law and rules makes it sometimes additionally difficult to survive. In this article I describe my adventure of spending a week in an Italian hospital.

Some time ago my local doctor suspected some neural problem