Jesse Thaler, MIT

"The Geometry of Particle Collisions: Hidden in Plain Sight"

Abstract: Since the 1960s, particle physicists have developed a variety of data analysis strategies for the goal of comparing experimental measurements to theoretical predictions. Despite their numerous successes, these techniques can seem esoteric and ad hoc, even to practitioners in the field. In this talk, I explain how many particle physics concepts and analysis tools have a natural geometric interpretation in an emergent “space” of collider events. This approach reveals fascinating connections between quantum field theory and machine learning, which I illustrate using public data from the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.