Pulling Out All the Tops with Computer Vision and Deep Learning

We apply computer vision with deep learning -- in the form of a convolutional neural network (CNN) -- to build a highly effective boosted top tagger. Previous work (the "DeepTop" tagger of Kasieczka et al) has shown that a CNN-based top tagger can achieve comparable performance to state-of-the-art conventional top taggers based on high-level inputs. Here, we introduce a number of improvements to the DeepTop tagger, including architecture, training, image preprocessing, sample size and color pixels. Our final CNN top tagger outperforms BDTs based on high-level inputs by a factor of $\sim 2$--3 or more in background rejection, over a wide range of tagging efficiencies and fiducial jet selections. As reference points, we achieve a QCD background rejection factor of 500 (60) at 50\% top tagging efficiency for fully-merged (non-merged) top jets with $p_T$ in the 800--900 GeV (350--450 GeV) range. Our CNN can also be straightforwardly extended to the classification of other types of jets, and the lessons learned here may be useful to others designing their own deep NNs for LHC applications.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figure

Deep inelastic scattering structure functions of holographic spin-1 hadrons with Nf≥1N_f \geq 1

Two-point current correlation functions of the large $N$ limit of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories at strong coupling are investigated in terms of their string theory dual models with quenched flavors. We consider non-Abelian global symmetry currents, which allow one to investigate vector mesons with $N_f > 1$. From the correlation functions we construct the deep inelastic scattering hadronic tensor of spin-one mesons, obtaining the corresponding eight structure functions for polarized vector mesons. We obtain several relations among the structure functions. Relations among some of their moments are also derived. Aspects of the sub-leading contributions in the $1/N$ and $N_f/N$ expansions are discussed. At leading order we find a universal behavior of the hadronic structure functions.Comment: 48 pages, 8 figure

Revealing Compressed Stops Using High-Momentum Recoils

Searches for supersymmetric top quarks at the LHC have been making great progress in pushing sensitivity out to higher mass, but are famously plagued by gaps in coverage around lower-mass regions where the decay phase space is closing off. Within the common stop-NLSP / neutralino-LSP simplified model, the line in the mass plane where there is just enough phase space to produce an on-shell top quark remains almost completely unconstrained. Here, we show that is possible to define searches capable of probing a large patch of this difficult region, with S/B ~ 1 and significances often well beyond 5 sigma. The basic strategy is to leverage the large energy gain of LHC Run 2, leading to a sizable population of stop pair events recoiling against a hard jet. The recoil not only re-establishes a MET signature, but also leads to a distinctive anti-correlation between the MET and the recoil jet transverse vectors when the stops decay all-hadronically. Accounting for jet combinatorics, backgrounds, and imperfections in MET measurements, we estimate that Run 2 will already start to close the gap in exclusion sensitivity with the first few 10s of inverse-fb. By 300/fb, exclusion sensitivity may extend from stop masses of 550 GeV on the high side down to below 200 GeV on the low side, approaching the "stealth" point at m(stop) = m(top) and potentially overlapping with limits from top pair cross section and spin correlation measurements.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Cornering Natural SUSY at LHC Run II and Beyond

We derive the latest constraints on various simplified models of natural SUSY with light higgsinos, stops and gluinos, using a detailed and comprehensive reinterpretation of the most recent 13 TeV ATLAS and CMS searches with $\sim 15$ fb$^{-1}$ of data. We discuss the implications of these constraints for fine-tuning of the electroweak scale. While the most "vanilla" version of SUSY (the MSSM with $R$-parity and flavor-degenerate sfermions) with 10% fine-tuning is ruled out by the current constraints, models with decoupled valence squarks or reduced missing energy can still be fully natural. However, in all of these models, the mediation scale must be extremely low ($<100$ TeV). We conclude by considering the prospects for the high-luminosity LHC era, where we expect the current limits on particle masses to improve by up to $\sim 1$ TeV, and discuss further model-building directions for natural SUSY that are motivated by this work.Comment: v2: added tree level- parton shower matching, fixed bug in Delphes, main results unchanged. 24 pages, 7 figures, plus appendi

Reality of auditory verbal hallucinations

Distortion of the sense of reality, actualized in delusions and hallucinations, is the key feature of psychosis but the underlying neuronal correlates remain largely unknown. We studied 11 highly functioning subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder while they rated the reality of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The subjective reality of AVH correlated strongly and specifically with the hallucination-related activation strength of the inferior frontal gyri (IFG), including the Broca's language region. Furthermore, how real the hallucination that subjects experienced was depended on the hallucination-related coupling between the IFG, the ventral striatum, the auditory cortex, the right posterior temporal lobe, and the cingulate cortex. Our findings suggest that the subjective reality of AVH is related to motor mechanisms of speech comprehension, with contributions from sensory and salience-detection-related brain regions as well as circuitries related to self-monitoring and the experience of agency