An introduction to Bootstrap for nuclear physics

Abstract

This guide aims at providing a general introduction to bootstrap methods. By using simple examples taken from nuclear physics, I discuss how such a method can be used to quantify error bars of an estimator. I also investigate the use of bootstrap to estimate parameters of a simple liquid drop model. In particular, I investigate how the method compares with standard techniques based on likelihood estimator and how to take into account correlations to better evaluate confidence interval of parameters.