Nuclear and Particle Physics
In nuclear and particle physics the data usually originate from the experimental apparatus via a data acquisition system. It is then processed, in a step usually called data reduction, to apply calibrations and to extract physically significant information. Data reduction is most often, especially in large particle physics experiments, an automatic, batch-mode operation carried out by software written ad-hoc. The resulting data n-tuples are then scrutinized by the physicists, using specialized software tools like ROOT or PAW, comparing the results of the experiment with theory.
The theoretical models are often difficult to compare directly with the results of the experiments, so they are used instead as input for Monte Carlo simulation software like Geant4, in order to predict the response of the detector to a given theoretical event, thus producing simulated events which are then compared to experimental data.
Read more about this topic: Data Analysis
Famous quotes containing the words nuclear, particle and/or physics:
“Language is as real, as tangible, in our lives as streets, pipelines, telephone switchboards, microwaves, radioactivity, cloning laboratories, nuclear power stations.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source.”
—Leo Tolstoy (18281910)
“... it is as true in morals as in physics that all force is imperishable; therefore the consequences of a human action never cease.”
—Tennessee Claflin (18461923)