Fake Banner
The Problem With Peer Review

In a world where misinformation, voluntary or accidental, reigns supreme; in a world where lies...

Interna

In the past few years my activities on this site - but I would say more in general, as the same...

The Probability Density Function: A Known Unknown

Perhaps the most important thing to get right from the start, in most statistical problems, is...

Summer Lectures In AI

Winter is not over yet, but I am already busy fixing the details of some conferences, schools,...

User picture.
picture for Hank Campbellpicture for Heidi Hendersonpicture for Bente Lilja Byepicture for Sascha Vongehrpicture for Patrick Lockerbypicture for Johannes Koelman
Tommaso DorigoRSS Feed of this column.

Tommaso Dorigo is an experimental particle physicist, who works for the INFN at the University of Padova, and collaborates with the CMS and the SWGO experiments. He is the president of the Read More »

 Blogroll
OPERA Confirms: Neutrinos Travel Faster Than Light!!

OPERA Confirms: Neutrinos Travel Faster Than Light!!

Nov 18 2011 | comment(s)

UPDATE: some technical considerations on the measurement are available in a followup post I wrote after attending a seminar on the new result today. In particular, one startling consideration emerges - if the reading of the 20 MHz Opera clock were off by just one tick, the result would be compatible with v=c.

UPDATE: you can download the new Opera paper at this link. You will need to use the username and password "neuvel".
Guess The Plot: Ellipses

Guess The Plot: Ellipses

Nov 16 2011 | comment(s)

It's been a while since my last "guess the plot" posting. The simple explanation is that I did not happen to run into any fancy graph in the last month or so. Now, today I have one for you to guess, but I must add that I believe it is rather easy to understand what it represents. Less obvious is to completely understand the math behind it, and the implications of the construction.
CP Violation In Charm Decays: 3.5 Sigma From LHCb!

CP Violation In Charm Decays: 3.5 Sigma From LHCb!

Nov 15 2011 | comment(s)

Today I wish to briefly discuss a recent important measurement produced by the LHCb collaboration, a measurement of CP violation in the decay of charmed mesons. Before I do, I think I need to explain some details of the LHCb experimental arrangement, because it is different from what most readers here are familiar with.

And, update: rather than putting it at the end, I prefer to link Resonaances' post on the same subject here this time - he wrote about the matter yesterday and did a much better job than I do below. Sorry for noticing it after posting mine!

Some pedestrian kinematics
The Say Of The Week

The Say Of The Week

Nov 10 2011 | comment(s)

"If we were not ignorant there would be no probability, there could only be certainty. But our ignorance cannot be absolute, for then there would be no longer any probability at all. Thus the problems of probability may be classed according to the greater or less depth of our ignorance. "

Henry Poincaré
Free Quarks ? Don't Be Fooled!

Free Quarks ? Don't Be Fooled!

Nov 07 2011 | comment(s)

These days I am preparing a three-hour course of statistics for particle physicists which I will give at a winter school in a couple of months. This stimulating task forces me to find nice and simple examples of good and bad applications of basic statistics. Stuff with high didactical value, and hopefully also entertaining.
Chess News

Chess News

Nov 06 2011 | comment(s)

Chess is a lifetime passion, there's no doubt about that. In twentyseven years of practice I have often found myself temporarily losing contact with my chess club, with tournaments, and online blitz games, only to return to the game with a renovated interest and hunger for putting my neurons to the test.

The fall of 2011 definitely classifies as one of my "coming back" moments. Here is a summary of the latest tournaments I played: