The experimental status of direct searches for exotic physics beyond the standard model at the Large Hadron Collider

The standard model of particle physics is an extremely successful theory of fundamental interactions, but it has many known limitations. It is therefore widely believed to be an effective field theory that describes interactions near the TeV scale. A plethora of strategies exist to extend the standard model, many of which contain predictions of new particles or dynamics that could manifest in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). As of now, none have been observed, and much of the available phase space for natural solutions to outstanding problems is excluded. If new physics exists, it is therefore either heavy (i.e. slightly above the reach of current searches) or hidden (i.e. currently indistinguishable from standard model backgrounds). We summarize the existing searches, and discuss future directions at the LHC.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figure

Thinking outside the ROCs: Designing Decorrelated Taggers (DDT) for jet substructure

We explore the scale-dependence and correlations of jet substructure observables to improve upon existing techniques in the identification of highly Lorentz-boosted objects. Modified observables are designed to remove correlations from existing theoretically well-understood observables, providing practical advantages for experimental measurements and searches for new phenomena. We study such observables in $W$ jet tagging and provide recommendations for observables based on considerations beyond signal and background efficiencies

Benefits to the U.S. from Physicists Working at Accelerators Overseas

We illustrate benefits to the U.S. economy and technological infrastructure of U.S. participation in accelerators overseas. We discuss contributions to experimental hardware and analysis and to accelerator technology and components, and benefits stemming from the involvement of U.S. students and postdoctoral fellows in global scientific collaborations. Contributed to the proceedings of the Snowmass 2013 Community Summer Study.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

Explainable AI for ML jet taggers using expert variables and layerwise relevance propagation

A framework is presented to extract and understand decision-making information from a deep neural network (DNN) classifier of jet substructure tagging techniques. The general method studied is to provide expert variables that augment inputs ("eXpert AUGmented" variables, or XAUG variables), then apply layerwise relevance propagation (LRP) to networks both with and without XAUG variables. The XAUG variables are concatenated with the intermediate layers after network-specific operations (such as convolution or recurrence), and used in the final layers of the network. The results of comparing networks with and without the addition of XAUG variables show that XAUG variables can be used to interpret classifier behavior, increase discrimination ability when combined with low-level features, and in some cases capture the behavior of the classifier completely. The LRP technique can be used to find relevant information the network is using, and when combined with the XAUG variables, can be used to rank features, allowing one to find a reduced set of features that capture part of the network performance. In the studies presented, adding XAUG variables to low-level DNNs increased the efficiency of classifiers by as much as 30-40\%. In addition to performance improvements, an approach to quantify numerical uncertainties in the training of these DNNs is presented.Comment: 38 pages, 30 figure

Ursinus College Alumni Journal, November 1966

\u2770 is here • And \u2770 says: Centennial Fund, roll on! • From the President • For Alumni Association leaders, Homecoming Day was some work and plenty of play • An Ursinus specialty: Shaping the future physician • New placement service for alumni • Huck Finn\u27s dilemma is ours • The paradox of urbia • The theatre of the absurd emerges in Latin America • An age of reforming in liberal education: Trends at Ursinus compare with reforms proposed at Columbia University • Sporting scene: Women undefeated in hockey; Soccer; Cross country; Football • Campus clippings: Founders\u27 Day; Sigma Xi Club; Research at Ursinus; Student teachers; The Agency; Mr. Rue remembers; On army duty; Evening school grows; Neighbors come to dinner; Lindback scholar; Parents Day; Job opportunity; \u2767 Ruby underway • Class notebook • Weddings • Births • In memoriamhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/alumnijournal/1085/thumbnail.jp

Jet Substructure at the Tevatron and LHC: New results, new tools, new benchmarks

In this report we review recent theoretical progress and the latest experimental results in jet substructure from the Tevatron and the LHC. We review the status of and outlook for calculation and simulation tools for studying jet substructure. Following up on the report of the Boost 2010 workshop, we present a new set of benchmark comparisons of substructure techniques, focusing on the set of variables and grooming methods that are collectively known as "top taggers". To facilitate further exploration, we have attempted to collect, harmonise, and publish software implementations of these techniques.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figures. L. Asquith, S. Rappoccio, C. K. Vermilion, editors; v2: minor edits from journal revision

Measurement of the Dipion Mass Spectrum in X(3872) -> J/Psi Pi+ Pi- Decays

We measure the dipion mass spectrum in X(3872)--> J/Psi Pi+ Pi- decays using 360 pb-1 of pbar-p collisions at 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector. The spectrum is fit with predictions for odd C-parity (3S1, 1P1, and 3DJ) charmonia decaying to J/Psi Pi+ Pi-, as well as even C-parity states in which the pions are from Rho0 decay. The latter case also encompasses exotic interpretations, such as a D0-D*0Bar molecule. Only the 3S1 and J/Psi Rho hypotheses are compatible with our data. Since 3S1 is untenable on other grounds, decay via J/Psi Rho is favored, which implies C=+1 for the X(3872). Models for different J/Psi-Rho angular momenta L are considered. Flexibility in the models, especially the introduction of Rho-Omega interference, enable good descriptions of our data for both L=0 and 1.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures -- Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Precision measurement of the top quark mass from dilepton events at CDF II

We report a measurement of the top quark mass, M_t, in the dilepton decay channel of $t\bar{t}\to b\ell'^{+}\nu_{\ell'}\bar{b}\ell^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb^{-1} of p\bar{p} collisions collected with the CDF II detector. We apply a method that convolutes a leading-order matrix element with detector resolution functions to form event-by-event likelihoods; we have enhanced the leading-order description to describe the effects of initial-state radiation. The joint likelihood is the product of the likelihoods from 78 candidate events in this sample, which yields a measurement of M_{t} = 164.5 \pm 3.9(\textrm{stat.}) \pm 3.9(\textrm{syst.}) \mathrm{GeV}/c^2, the most precise measurement of M_t in the dilepton channel.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, version includes changes made prior to publication by journa

Cross Section Measurements of High-pTp_T Dilepton Final-State Processes Using a Global Fitting Method

We present a new method for studying high-$p_T$ dilepton events ($e^{\pm}e^{\mp}$, $\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$, $e^{\pm}\mu^{\mp}$) and simultaneously extracting the production cross sections of $p\bar{p} \to t\bar{t}$, $p\bar{p} \to W^+W^-$, and p\bar{p} \to \ztt at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV. We perform a likelihood fit to the dilepton data in a parameter space defined by the missing transverse energy and the number of jets in the event. Our results, which use $360 {\rm pb^{-1}}$ of data recorded with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, are $\sigma(t\bar{t}) = 8.5_{-2.2}^{+2.7}$ pb, $\sigma(W^+W^-) = 16.3^{+5.2}_{-4.4}$ pb, and \sigma(\ztt) =291^{+50}_{-46} pb.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, to be submitted to PRD-R