SIGMA PLOT TUTORIAL

15 SIGMA PLOT TUTORIAL

Welcome to the 2nd year labs. This semester you will encounter a number of new concepts and practicals that will enable you to improve your experimental technique. In addition to becoming confident with your ability as a experimental physicist, you will hopefully appreciate the physical significance of the results you are taking, the associated errors and how to analyse these results. To this means, we shall be using a power scientific program, namely SigmaPlot. In this tute you shall be introduced to the basics of this program. We shall enter and create a graph of this data. Next we will create a linear fit for this data, and plot this over the top of the experimental data to observe the accuracy of the fit. Finally we will transform this data to obtain another quantity.

15.1 ENTERING DATA INTO THE WORKSHEET

ADC Number 313 399 452 538 574 611 613 713 814 907 1069 1130 1227 1347 1430 1509 1600 with Excel. Energy (MeV) 18.207 19.186 20.653 21.632 23.100 24.155 24.079 26.602 29.048 31.495 33.914 36.387 38.833 41.279 43.725 46.171 48.617 After entering windows, go to Jandel Scientific, then click on Sigma plot. A data worksheet will then open. Enter the following data into two columns in the worksheet. Add column titles (right click near the column title a down arrow will appear -> column title). Save the worksheet ( file -> save as -> tute.spw) or CTRL S. Data may be deleted, copied and cut using using del, ctrl v and ctrl x respectively for those that are familiar

15.2 FITTING THE DATA

We shall now fit the data (math -> curve fit)(F5). Then create a fit by entering the initial parameters, variables, equations and commands as below.

EXAMPLE
[Parameters] m=10 c= 1 [Variables] ADC=col(1) e=col(2) Initial guess at the gradient of the equation Initial guess at the y intercept of equation Defines the data in col(1) as ADC Defines the data in col(2) as e 141

PART II LABORATORY
[Equations] E=m*ADC+c Fit E to e

The equation will be of this form The programs performs a least square fit between E and e. It varies m and c until the fit of the experimental points e and the predicted points (E) are the smallest.

Note that in the above case we are creating a linear fit between the energy and ADC Channel. We could plot this data by hand, and then create a line of best fit however as you shall see later, Sigma Plot is a very powerful tool if you know how to use it. The same technique can be used to create quadratic, cubic or gaussian fits to data and all regressions are performed using a least squares fit. Run the fit and then keep results. Tick all three boxes. This places the parameters, values (functions) and differences between experimental and theoretical data (residuals) in col 3,4 and 5 respectively. Label these columns while you are here. Once, you have done this, save the session again. ( I found E=0.0239*ADC +9.59) NOTE : If your initial values were too accurate or you made a typo you may have encountered an error. Try reentering the above. If this does not work, consult your demonstrator.

15.3 PLOTTING THE DATA AND FIT

We shall now create a graph of the experimental points. (Graph > Create Graph) (F3). Cartesian will be fine. Pick Manually and plot ADC verses Energy. Add to list and click OK. Maximise the graph, then edit the axis and graph labels by double clicking in them. Label them with something appropriate, perhaps, Energy Vs ADC, Energy (MeV) and ADC Channel Number as shown below. You should see a linear relationship between the Channel number and energy recorded. This justifies our the use of the linear fit above. We shall now overlay the graph with a plot of the fitted points to see how good the fit it. (note the terminology). Go back to the datasheet (View > Data Worksheet) and then create a plot (Plot -> Create a plot for ..). Again cartesian, pick manually and then plot ADC on the x and values on the y. Add to list and click OK. This will overlay the fit on the over the experimental points. Initially this looks like a mess because the fit is also it dots. Fix this by adding a line and removing any symbol ( using the commands in the PLOT) menu. If you messed this up, try it again or consult your demonstrator. You should see that the fit matches the data pretty nicely as indicated by the small residuals. Once you have done this, save the data and print out the graph.

15.4 TRANSFORMING THE DATA

We shall now calculate the momentum associated with each channel as follows. This is achieved using a transform. In the worksheet enter the transform tool (math -> transforms) or (F10). This uses the fitted values of E rather the experimental values as the fitted values are more accurate.

EXAMPLE
m=0.0239 c=9.5918 ADC=col(1) E=m*ADC+c E0=938.3 P=SQRT(E*E+2*E0*E) Put P into col(6) The value obtained above Defines Data in col(1) as ADC Relates the ADC channel to the energy Calculates the momentum from the energy And finally it puts this value into col(6)

Execute this command. This transform will then place the resultant momentum values into col 6. As a check the final momentum value should be around 303.4. Label the column 6, save your work (CTRL S) and then youre finished. Please note that this tutorial has only covered the basics of Sigma Plot but it has hopefully introduced you to the power of this software. You have seen how to take your experimental data, create a graph, fit the data, create a

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SIGMA PLOT TUTORIAL

plot and then transform the data. It is recommended that you spend any remaining time exploring the features of Sigma Plot so that you can use this powerful software with confidence throughout the semester.

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