170,958 research outputs found
Variational Autoencoders for New Physics Mining at the Large Hadron Collider
Using variational autoencoders trained on known physics processes, we develop
a one-sided threshold test to isolate previously unseen processes as outlier
events. Since the autoencoder training does not depend on any specific new
physics signature, the proposed procedure doesn't make specific assumptions on
the nature of new physics. An event selection based on this algorithm would be
complementary to classic LHC searches, typically based on model-dependent
hypothesis testing. Such an algorithm would deliver a list of anomalous events,
that the experimental collaborations could further scrutinize and even release
as a catalog, similarly to what is typically done in other scientific domains.
Event topologies repeating in this dataset could inspire new-physics model
building and new experimental searches. Running in the trigger system of the
LHC experiments, such an application could identify anomalous events that would
be otherwise lost, extending the scientific reach of the LHC.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, 5 table
Final results from the Palo Verde Neutrino Oscillation Experiment
The analysis and results are presented from the complete data set recorded at
Palo Verde between September 1998 and July 2000. In the experiment, the
\nuebar interaction rate has been measured at a distance of 750 and 890 m
from the reactors of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station for a total of
350 days, including 108 days with one of the three reactors off for refueling.
Backgrounds were determined by (a) the technique based on the difference
between signal and background under reversal of the positron and neutron parts
of the correlated event and (b) making use of the conventional reactor-on and
reactor-off cycles. There is no evidence for neutrino oscillation and the mode
\nuebar\to\bar\nu_x was excluded at 90% CL for \dm>1.1\times10^{-3} eV
at full mixing, and \sinq>0.17 at large \dm.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Application of Artificial Neural Network to Search for Gravitational-Wave Signals Associated with Short Gamma-Ray Bursts
We apply a machine learning algorithm, the artificial neural network, to the
search for gravitational-wave signals associated with short gamma-ray bursts.
The multi-dimensional samples consisting of data corresponding to the
statistical and physical quantities from the coherent search pipeline are fed
into the artificial neural network to distinguish simulated gravitational-wave
signals from background noise artifacts. Our result shows that the data
classification efficiency at a fixed false alarm probability is improved by the
artificial neural network in comparison to the conventional detection
statistic. Therefore, this algorithm increases the distance at which a
gravitational-wave signal could be observed in coincidence with a gamma-ray
burst. In order to demonstrate the performance, we also evaluate a few seconds
of gravitational-wave data segment using the trained networks and obtain the
false alarm probability. We suggest that the artificial neural network can be a
complementary method to the conventional detection statistic for identifying
gravitational-wave signals related to the short gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figure
RICE Limits on the Diffuse Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Flux
We present new limits on ultra-high energy neutrino fluxes above 100 PeV
based on data collected by the Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment (RICE) at the
South Pole from 1999-2005. We discuss estimation of backgrounds, calibration
and data analysis algorithms (both on-line and off-line), procedures used for
the dedicated neutrino search, and refinements in our Monte Carlo (MC)
simulation, including recent in situ measurements of the complex ice dielectric
constant. An enlarged data set and a more detailed study of hadronic showers
results in a sensitivity improvement of more than one order of magnitude
compared to our previously published results. Examination of the full RICE data
set yields zero acceptable neutrino candidates, resulting in 95%
confidence-level model dependent limits on the flux
(E_\nu)^2(d\phi/dE_\nu)<10^{-6} GeV/(cm^2s~sr}) in the energy range 10^{17}<
E_\nu< 10^{20} eV. The new RICE results rule out the most intense flux model
projections at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to Astropart. Phy
Large-Scale Image Processing with the ROTSE Pipeline for Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Events
Electromagnetic (EM) observations of gravitational-wave (GW) sources would
bring unique insights into a source which are not available from either channel
alone. However EM follow-up of GW events presents new challenges. GW events
will have large sky error regions, on the order of 10-100 square degrees, which
can be made up of many disjoint patches. When searching such large areas there
is potential contamination by EM transients unrelated to the GW event.
Furthermore, the characteristics of possible EM counterparts to GW events are
also uncertain. It is therefore desirable to be able to assess the statistical
significance of a candidate EM counterpart, which can only be done by
performing background studies of large data sets. Current image processing
pipelines such as that used by ROTSE are not usually optimised for large-scale
processing. We have automated the ROTSE image analysis, and supplemented it
with a post-processing unit for candidate validation and classification. We
also propose a simple ad hoc statistic for ranking candidates as more likely to
be associated with the GW trigger. We demonstrate the performance of the
automated pipeline and ranking statistic using archival ROTSE data. EM
candidates from a randomly selected set of images are compared to a background
estimated from the analysis of 102 additional sets of archival images. The
pipeline's detection efficiency is computed empirically by re-analysis of the
images after adding simulated optical transients that follow typical light
curves for gamma-ray burst afterglows and kilonovae. We show that the automated
pipeline rejects most background events and is sensitive to simulated
transients to limiting magnitudes consistent with the limiting magnitude of the
images
Adversarially Learned Anomaly Detection on CMS Open Data: re-discovering the top quark
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.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
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