|
Activity Description:
|
In this series of investigations students analyze real Fermilab data. In the first two investigations students learn how to identify B mesons and W bosons and find the W mass. They can also calculate B lifetime as a special project. Students use the ideas of conservation of energy and momentum, the effects of magnetic fields on charged particles, relativistic effects and ways to analyze large amounts of data.
What the students learn from the first two investigations culminates in the search for the Higgs boson. That investigation uses Monte Carlo (simulated) data mixed with real background data to predict where in the mass range the experimental results may lie. The data is presented in Excel spreadsheets and as event pictures. Students hone their Excel skills creating equations, filling in data and creating and plotting histograms. |
