We present a fast simulation application based on a Deep Neural Network, designed to create large analysis-specific datasets. Taking as an example the generation of W+jet events produced in sqrt(s)= 13 TeV proton-proton collisions, we train a neural network to model detector resolution effects as a transfer function acting on an analysis-specific set of relevant features, computed at generation level, i.e., in absence of detector effects. Based on this model, we propose a novel fast-simulation workflow that starts from a large amount of generator-level events to deliver large analysis-specific samples. The adoption of this approach would result in about an order-of-magnitude reduction in computing and storage requirements for the collision simulation workflow. This strategy could help the high energy physics community to face the computing challenges of the future High-Luminosity LHC.
Oliver Knapp, Guenther Dissertori, Olmo Cerri et al.
We apply an Adversarially Learned Anomaly Detection (ALAD) algorithm to the problem of detecting new physics processes in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Anomaly detection based on ALAD matches performances reached by Variational Autoencoders, with a substantial improvement in some cases. Training the ALAD algorithm on 4.4 fb-1 of 8 TeV CMS Open Data, we show how a data-driven anomaly detection and characterization would work in real life, re-discovering the top quark by identifying the main features of the t-tbar experimental signature at the LHC.
Jesus Arjona Martinez, Olmo Cerri, Maurizio Pierini et al.
At the Large Hadron Collider, the high transverse-momentum events studied by experimental collaborations occur in coincidence with parasitic low transverse-momentum collisions, usually referred to as pileup. Pileup mitigation is a key ingredient of the online and offline event reconstruction as pileup affects the reconstruction accuracy of many physics observables. We present a classifier based on Graph Neural Networks, trained to retain particles coming from high-transverse-momentum collisions, while rejecting those coming from pileup collisions. This model is designed as a refinement of the PUPPI algorithm, employed in many LHC data analyses since 2015. Thanks to an extended basis of input information and the learning capabilities of the considered network architecture, we show an improvement in pileup-rejection performances with respect to state-of-the-art solutions.