Think as an experimental particle physicist: results! February 27, 2009
Posted by dorigo in games, humor, physics, science.Tags: humor, physicists, test
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I know you are impatient, and the weekend is coming, so while I still hope more of you will leave their results in the comments thread, I give below the key to compute the score of the two-part test I offered in the two previous posts. Each answer has from zero to three of the following symbols: E,T,S,C,D. Just sum each category for now:
Part 1):
- A:
- DDTSS
- TES
- TEE
- DCCC
- B:
- SEE
- TTD
- TS
- CD
- CC
- SDE
- C:
- EET
- TTSE
- DDC
- DCSS
- D:
- S
- S
- SEE
- TTTE
- DDD
- CCC
- E:
- CCTTT
- CESSDD
- EEDS
- F:
- CCTDD
- SE
- CSDEE
- TTS
- G:
- DDDTTTSS
- SECC
- EEC
- H:
- TSD
- TS
- TEECCD
- ESCD
- I:
- ED
- S
- CCS
- CEDD
- TTES
- J:
- TTTCSD
- ESSD
- ECCD
- E
- K:
- TSSC
- TTSDDDE
- CCEE
And the following apply to part 2 (mind you, due to a mistake I cannot fix any more, the first question is still a K).
- K:
- TTTSS
- ECCC
- EDD
- EDS
- L:
- DSSE
- DD
- TCC
- TC
- ET
- SE
- M:
- DDTS
- EDS
- CEE
- TCS
- TC
- N:
- TSC
- EE
- TESSC
- TCDDD
- O:
- CSSTTD
- CE
- CSEDD
- TE
- P:
- EE
- TSSSC
- DDDCC
- TTE
- Q:
- TESD
- ECCDD
- ESS
- TTC
- R:
- DDDTS
- TCCS
- TSE
- CEE
- S:
- DDE
- CSDEE
- TT
- S
- ST
- CC
That is all. Now, you should have collected five scores: the total number of E,T,S,C, and D in your answers. Here are the results:
- Large majority of one symbol: You think like an Experimental particle physicist (E), more like a particle Theorist (T), more like a Scientist from another field (S), your mental processes are similar to those of a Computer scientist (C), you reason like a Dilettante (D).
- Slight majority of one symbol (difference highest-second highest less than 9): add E and T and S, and subtract C and D from the sum. If the result is larger than 19 you think like a scientist, if it is smaller than 9 you definitely do not.
- Less than 10 of a suit (say, T) means you really do not think like one (a Theorist).
- The maximum number of E symbols you can get is 34. I got 27, how much did you do ?
And, I hope you enjoyed this test as much as I enjoyed putting it together!
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
E: 11, T: 17, S: 20, C: 8, D: 11
This damn silicon button gave me 3 of D’s
I guess I have, (E+T+S)-(C+D) = 29…
Interesting, looks like I am a scientist, who thinks like a particle theorist, but has equal amount of experimentlist and dilettante, and a little bit from computer scientist. Funny, but I am a computer scientist
Hi Reperio,
I guess that if you weren’t thinking like a scientist at least a little, you would not be here… However, I am more than willing to revise the scoring system if I collect enough data!
Cheers,
T.
T- cool idea, and i was wondering before why you were slowing down on posts — because you were incubating this! it would take some time to fill, that i should be spending reading lensing papers, so i may or may not try it this wknd — but i’d def. like to, and will try, i’ll tell you! :-> -M
well. it is obvious by the results i am some kind of scientist…i was tied neck in neck with E and T with only fewer more for C. I want to be like my heroes so bad that i’m disappointed it was not more like E. hehe.! THANK YOU T for putting this together it was ALOT of fun!
wait…there are 2 parts…i spoke to soon. i promise to be fair when answering so i do not tamper with the results. i will go complete part 2 and let you know how i score.
Hi Tommaso,
I did not take the test but one question jumped to my eye:
* C) How does the Higgs boson decay to a pair of photons ?
1. by first splitting into a pair of top quarks
2. by first splitting into a fermion loop
3. by first splitting into a pair of W bosons
4. it cannot, the Higgs is not electrically charged
as some of your readers pointed out, the answers 1-3 are all correct. In the SM the Higgs couples to two photons through a loop of either charged fermions (among which the top, being the heaviest, gives by far the largest contribution) or W bosons. The balance between the top and W contributions depends on the Higgs mass, but the W contribution is in general dominant (especially at low Higgs mass). See e.g. fig.2.15 of hep-ph/0503172. Now, from your result sheet I read:
1. EET
2. TTSE
3. DDC
4. DCSS
If I understand correctly your scores, you seem to consider very dilletanteish the answer that the Higgs couples to two photons through a W-boson loop. May I ask you why? Perhaps it’s you who have some D’s in your understanding of the Higgs decay?
Hi ptrslv,
it’s right, my understanding is rather limited, plus I sometimes type a W in place of a Z…
Cheers,
T.
Heh, I’m a scientist! I got an E score of 13, a T of 15 and an S of 17. My final Scientist score was 24.
22 E
18 C
14 S
11 D
9 T
Ok, it’s nice to see that I’m more an Experimentalist than anything else (as I’m supposed to be), but it is quite freaky that I am almost as well a computer guy according to your test. And I’m not famous for my computing skills, just to use a euphemism.
Tommaso got 27E, I got 22: fair enough… (considering I actually *am* an experimental particle physicist). But also got 22D: gosh!. I got killed by the cosmic ray (pretty ignorant in the field, I admit it), and would question the W loop in H->gamma gamma decay as Carl did. But apart from those, I got the general feeling that Tommaso believes that a “Dilettante” is a sort of naive-too-honest-not-smart-enough-to-survive, while a real Experimentalist is one that learned his lessons the hard way, and is now a callous hard-bitten old pirate in the field. Mmm, I guess this could well be – ours is certainly a tough world – and maybe I’m really a Dilettante Experimentalist
Let’s see if I survive…
Hi Marco,
I admit that the score was not thought over too much – it is just a game rather than a serious thing. Also, I tried to do the test myself in the most unbiased way possible, but I was certainly influenced by the scores I had already decided fo the questions. The H->gamma gamma through W loop is a typo – I had intended to write H->ZZ->gamma gamma, which does not exist in the SM. I am sure you’ll survive, because your blogging shows you have what it takes – the stamina!
Cheers,
T.
E 22
S 17
C 19
D 10
T 6
Something’s wrong in me
Ehy, I was not complaining! Clearly that the test was a game, and honestly a very funny one to be played, whatever the results!
What I was trying to say is that the test seems to contain some interesting anthropological insights about the average Experimental Particle Physicist. For instance, it seems this average EPP is one that would do anything but reading a compiler output to solve his software issues; or that would never take the responsibility to stop a data acquisition alone, and would better risk to leave a piece of his precious detector burn
And so on…
The funny thing is that you’re mostly right about everything
, since those are common attitudes and idiosyncrasies of our community (e.g. mostly all of us do write very bad code, while believing we’re great programmers). But a (probably small) minority of us might not share them (and still not be computer scientists)! 
I know you were not complaining, tranquillo
Yes, I tried to picture the idiosyncrasies of our colleagues (and our own).
I did not really know where the test was going while I was writing it down, it just came out this way…
Cheers,
T.
hmmm too many C’s on K2: my results have been affetcted by that damned pretty new librarian. but you should see her..
c 17, s 12, d 22, e 12, t 10
well, I should change job
or maybe I should take this test again more seriously !!!!
Ahi ahi ahi Nicola, your scores do sound a bit dilettantesque! However, since I know you, I should rather like to have a second critical look at the scoring system than at your curriculum!
Cheers,
T.
K1
L2
M2
N3
O1
P2
Q4
R2
S4