Physics 414 and 521

Advanced Laboratory

Spring 2009

Synopsis:

This is a laboratory course on experimental physics for undergraduate physics majors (414) and graduate students in physics and astronomy and medical physics(521). The laboratory experiments are located in DRL in rooms 2N23, 2N25, and 2N44. These rooms are open from 9:30am to 6:00pm Monday through Friday and at other times if the student has obtained a key for access. The most important rule to remember about this course is at no time should a student work alone in the laboratory.

Instructors:

Dr. Jose Vithayathil
DRL 2N27
Telephone: (215) 898-3173 (office) or (610) 356-5305 (home)
vithayat -at- physics.upenn.edu

Prof. Joseph Kroll
DRL 3N4A
Telephone: (215) 573-6380 (office) or (215) 313-1615 (cell)
kroll -at- hep.upenn.edu

Lectures and Meetings:

There will be an initial orientation and organizational meeting on Wednesday 14 January 2009 from 5:15pm to 6:20pm. We will meet at DRL 3W2. The exceptional late start time is because of the monthly Physics and Astronomy Colloquium.

This course does not have regular lectures. We will have a few introductory lectures using the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday time slot from 5pm to 6:20pm. (Many of these lectures may only go to 6:00pm or so, but please be prepared to stay until 6:20pm if necessary). These meetings will be used to tour the lab to see the various experiments you may do during the semester, to discuss safety procedures, and to discuss data analysis including a review of the determination of measurement uncertainties.

These introductory lectures (we meet in DRL 3W2) are tentatively scheduled at the following times:

  • Wed. 14 Jan. 5:15-6:20pm: introduction and lab tour (n.b. late start)
  • Fri. 16 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: (slides) (problem set) due Wed. 21 Jan. in class.
  • Mon. 19 Jan. Martin Luther King Holiday - no lecture
  • Wed. 21 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: Discuss 1st assignment. Parent distributions, the Gaussian distribution, the central limit theorem. Problem set 2 due Wed. 21 Jan. in class.
  • Fri. 23 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: Discuss 2nd assignment. Basic rules of probability. The binomial distribution. Calculating an efficiency.
  • Mon. 26 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: The Poisson distribution as a limiting case of the binomial distribution. Comparing Poisson and Gaussian distributions. Calculating an efficiency using Poisson statistics. Problem set 3 due Wed. 28 Jan. in class.
  • Wed. 28 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: Discuss 3rd assignment. Another example of Binomial vs. Poisson: forward-backward asymmetry. The method of maximum likelihood. The uncertainty on an average. Combining results with varying precision. Chi-square test and distribution
  • Fri. 30 Jan. 5:00-6:20pm: no class
  • Mon. 02 Feb. 5:00-6:20pm: no class Problem set 4 due Fri. 06 Feb.
  • Wed. 04 Feb. 5:00-6:20pm:
  • Fri. 06 Feb. 5:00-6:20pm: no class

    • Textbooks:

    There is a laboratory manual that describes the different experiments and contains some information on statistical analysis of data.

    There is a list of references in the laboratory manual. Some of these texts will be on reserve in the Math/Physics library.

    Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physicists by Louis Lyons is strongly recommended and may be purchased from www.amazon.com.

    Homework:

    There will be a few homework assignments to help reenforce the material discussed in lectures. You will also have a chance to use MATLAB.

    Requirements and Grading:

    You are expected to do four labs. If you feel you are inexperienced with laboratory work and you would like to make sure the first lab you attempt is straightforward, we recommend you try one of the following experiments:

    Of your four experiments, only two should be from the list above. Of the remaining experiments, the gamma ray correlation measurement in 60Ni and the optical pumping of Rubidium vapor are the most challenging.

    For each lab you will hand in a lab report and you will make an oral presentation. A description of what is expected in the lab report and the oral presentations can be found here. The schedule for the four labs is shown in the table below. Late lab reports or presentations will have the grade reduced by one half grade, that is, an A will be reduced to a A-, an A- will be reduced to a B+, etc. Each lab report and oral presentation count 25% of your grade with the report weighted a factor two more than the oral presentation. The homework will count as part of the first lab grade.

    You are expected to keep a laboratory notebook that you will use to record your data. Please purchase a "computation notebook" or "labbook" that is 11 3/4 inches by 9 1/4 inches with quadruled paper (the bookstore has these). You will hand in your lab book with your reports. Do not write data on loose pieces of paper and then transcribe these data into your lab book. This practice will be actively discouraged by the instructors.

    Due date Assignment
    Tue. Jan. 20 e-mail instructors choice of 1st lab & partner
    Fri. Feb. 06 1st lab rough draft
    Feb. 09-13 1st presentation
    Fri. Feb. 13 1st lab final version
    Fri. Feb. 27 2nd lab rough draft
    Mar. 02-06 2nd presentation
    Fri. Mar. 06 2nd lab final version
    Mar. 06-15 Spring Break
    Fri. Mar 27 3rd lab rough draft
    Mar. 30 - Apr. 03 3rd presentation
    Fri. Apr. 03 3rd lab final version
    Fri. Apr. 24 4th lab rough draft
    Apr. 27 - May 01 4th presentation
    Tue. Apr. 28 Last Day of Classes
    Fri. May. 02 4th lab final version

    You will do the first and second labs with a partner. For the third and fourth labs, you should work alone. For labs done with a partner, you will hand in a joint lab report, and you will make individual presentations on the laboratory.

    The lab reports should be written the style of a research article at a level accessible to upper division physics majors.