Publications

Order by: publication date number of citations

• How to unfold top decays

  Luigi Favaro, Roman Kogler, Alexander Paasch, Sofia Palacios Schweitzer, Tilman Plehn, Dennis Schwarz

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 053 (2025) · published 18 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Using unfolded top-quark decay data we can measure the top quark mass, as well as search for unexpected kinematic effects. We present a new generative unfolding method for the two tasks and show how they both benefit from unbinned, high-dimensional unfolding. Unlike weight-based or iterative generative methods we include a targeted unbiasing with respect to the training data. This shows significant advantages over standard, iterative methods, in terms of applicability, flexibility and accuracy.

• Physics-informed neural networks viewpoint for solving the Dyson-Schwinger equations of quantum electrodynamics

  Rodrigo Carmo Terin

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 054 (2025) · published 20 August 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) are employed to solve the Dyson-Schwinger equations of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in Euclidean space, with a focus on the non-perturbative generation of the fermion's dynamical mass function in the Landau gauge. By inserting the integral equation directly into the loss function, our PINN framework enables a single neural network to learn a continuous and differentiable representation of the mass function over a spectrum of momenta. Also, we benchmark our approach against a traditional numerical algorithm showing the main differences among them. Our novel strategy, which is expected to be extended to other quantum field theories, is the first step towards forefront applications of machine learning in high-level theoretical physics.

• Electronic structure of liquid xenon in the context of light dark matter direct detection

  Riccardo Catena, Luca Marin, Marek Matas, Nicola A. Spaldin, Einar Urdshals

  SciPost Phys. 19, 064 (2025) · published 3 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a description of the electronic structure of xenon within the density-functional theory formalism with the goal of accurately modeling dark-matter-induced ionisation in liquid xenon detectors. We compare the calculated electronic structures of the atomic, liquid and crystalline solid phases, and find that the electronic charge density and its derivatives in momentum space are similar in the atom and the liquid, consistent with the weak interatomic van der Waals bonding. The only notable difference is a band broadening of the highest occupied $5p$ levels, reflected in the densities of states of the condensed phases, as a result of the inter-atomic interactions. We therefore use the calculated density of states of the liquid phase, combined with the standard literature approach for the isolated atom, to recompute ionisation rates and exclusion limit curves for the XENON10 and XENON1T experiments. We find that the broadening of the 5$p$ levels induced by the liquid phase is relevant only for dark matter masses below 6 MeV, where it increases the ionisation rate relative to that of the isolated atom. For most of the explored mass range, the energies of the discrete 4$d$ and 5$s$ levels have the strongest effect on the rate. Our findings suggest a simple scheme for calculating dark matter-electron scattering rates in liquid noble gas detectors, using the calculated values for the atom weighted by the density of states of the condensed phase.

• Theoretical modeling of QCD radiation in off-shell Higgs production through gluon fusion

  Rafael Coelho Lopes de Sá, Martina Javurkova, Matteo Lazzeretti, Raoul Röntsch

  SciPost Phys. Comm. Rep. 12 (2025) · published 4 September 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The measurement of the Higgs boson width is a critical test of the Standard Model, with significant implications for understanding electroweak symmetry breaking. Direct measurements are limited by detector resolution, but it can be measured with greater precision through a combined analysis of on-shell and off-shell Higgs boson production. While results for on-shell production have been computed to a very high accuracy, theoretical predictions for off-shell Higgs boson production are not as well controlled due to the breakdown of the heavy-top approximation and the large interference with non-resonant amplitudes. Seeking to understand and improve the theoretical control, we compare leading-order and next-to-leading-order plus parton shower differential cross-sections for signal, background, and full physical processes in off-shell Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider, using Powheg, MadGraph, and Sherpa. We analyze the impact of higher-order quantum chromodynamics effects and theoretical uncertainties, highlighting differences between predictions using jet merging with parton showers, and those from next-to-leading order computations matched to parton showers. The results provide insights for improving theoretical predictions and their application to experimental measurements in the future.

• Towards universal unfolding of detector effects in high-energy physics using denoising diffusion probabilistic models

  Camila Pazos, Shuchin Aeron, Pierre-Hugues Beauchemin, Vincent Croft, Zhengyan Huan, Martin Klassen, Taritree Wongjirad

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 064 (2025) · published 2 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Correcting for detector effects in experimental data, particularly through unfolding, is critical for enabling precision measurements in high-energy physics. However, traditional unfolding methods face challenges in scalability, flexibility, and dependence on simulations. We introduce a novel approach to multidimensional object-wise unfolding using conditional Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (cDDPM). Our method utilizes the cDDPM for a non-iterative, flexible posterior sampling approach, incorporating distribution moments as conditioning information, which exhibits a strong inductive bias that allows it to generalize to unseen physics processes without explicitly assuming the underlying distribution. Our results highlight the potential of this method as a step towards a "universal" unfolding tool that reduces dependence on truth-level assumptions, while enabling the unfolding of a wide range of measured distributions with improved adaptability and accuracy.

• Post-hoc reweighting of hadron production in the Lund string model

  Benoît Assi, Christan Bierlich, Philip Ilten, Tony Menzo, Stephen Mrenna, Manuel Szewc, Michael K. Wilkinson, Ahmed Youssef, Jure Zupan

  SciPost Phys. 19, 104 (2025) · published 20 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present a method for reweighting flavor selection in the Lund string fragmentation model. This is the process of calculating and applying event weights enabling fast and exact variation of hadronization parameters on pre-generated event samples. The procedure is post hoc, requiring only a small amount of additional information stored per event, and allowing for efficient estimation of hadronization uncertainties without repeated simulation. Weight expressions are derived from the hadronization algorithm itself, and validated against direct simulation for a wide range of observables and parameter shifts. The hadronization algorithm can be viewed as a hierarchical Markov process with stochastic rejections, a structure common to many complex simulations outside of high-energy physics. This perspective makes the method modular, extensible, and potentially transferable to other domains. We demonstrate the approach in Pythia, including both coverage considerations and timing benefits. For the purpose of this paper, our goal is to develop and demonstrate the the formalism, and we therefore exclude several model variations for baryon production (popcorn model, junction production) needed for proton collisions. These will be the topic of a future paper.

• Phase space compression of a positive muon beam in two spatial dimensions

  A. Antognini, N. J. Ayres, I. Belosevic, V. Bondar, A. Eggenberger, M. Hildebrandt, R. Iwai, K. Kirch, A. Knecht, G. Lospalluto, J. Nuber, A. Papa, M. Sakurai, I. Solovyev, D. Taqqu, T. Yan

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 071 (2025) · published 20 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  We present the first demonstration of simultaneous phase space compression in two spatial dimensions of a positive muon beam, the first stage of the novel high-brightness muon beam under development by the muCool collaboration at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The keV-energy, sub-mm size beam would enable a factor $10^5$ improvement in brightness for precision $\mu$SR, and atomic and particle physics measurements with positive muons. This compression is achieved within a cryogenic helium gas target with a strong density gradient, placed in a homogeneous magnetic field, under the influence of a complex electric field. In the next phase, the muon beam will be extracted into vacuum.

• Accurate surrogate amplitudes with calibrated uncertainties

  Henning Bahl, Nina Elmer, Luigi Favaro, Manuel Haußmann, Tilman Plehn, Ramon Winterhalder

  SciPost Phys. Core 8, 073 (2025) · published 24 October 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  Neural networks for LHC physics have to be accurate, reliable, and controlled. Using neural surrogates for the prediction of loop amplitudes as a use case, we first show how activation functions are systematically tested with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks. Then, we train neural surrogates to simultaneously predict the target amplitude and an uncertainty for the prediction. We disentangle systematic uncertainties, learned by a well-defined likelihood loss, from statistical uncertainties, which require the introduction of Bayesian neural networks or repulsive ensembles. We test the coverage of the learned uncertainties using pull distributions to quantify the calibration of cutting-edge neural surrogates.

• Higgs production via vector-boson fusion at the LHC

  Gaetano Barone, Jiayi Chen, Stephane Cooperstein, Nikita Dolganov, Silvia Ferrario Ravasio, Yacine Haddad, Stefan Höche, Barbara Jäger, Alexander Karlberg, Alexander Mück, Mathieu Pellen, Christian T. Preuss, Daniel Reichelt, Simon Reinhardt, Marco Zaro

  SciPost Phys. Comm. Rep. 13 (2025) · published 5 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  In this article, we summarise the recent experimental measurements and theoretical work on Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion at the LHC. Along with this, we provide state-of-the-art predictions at fixed order as well as with parton-shower corrections within the Standard Model at $13.6\,\text{TeV}$. The results are presented in the form of multi-differential distributions as well as in the Simplified Template Cross Section bins. All materials and outputs of this study are available on public repositories. Finally, following findings in the literature, recommendations are made to estimate theoretical uncertainties related to parton-shower corrections.

• Interpolating amplitudes

  Víctor Bresó-Pla, Gudrun Heinrich, Vitaly Magerya, Anton Olsson

  SciPost Phys. 19, 123 (2025) · published 10 November 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

  The calculation of scattering amplitudes at higher orders in perturbation theory has reached a high degree of maturity. However, their usage to produce physical predictions within Monte Carlo programs is often precluded by the slow evaluation of two- and higher-loop virtual amplitudes, particularly those calculated numerically. As a remedy, interpolation frameworks have been successfully used for amplitudes depending on up to two kinematic invariants. For amplitude interpolation with more variables, such as the five dimensions of a $2\to 3$ phase space, efficient and reliable solutions are sparse. This work aims to pave the way for using amplitude interpolation in higher-dimensional phase spaces by reviewing state-of-the-art interpolation methods, and assessing their performance on a selection of $2\to 3$ scattering amplitudes. Specifically, we investigate interpolation methods based on polynomials, splines, spatially adaptive sparse grids, and neural networks (multilayer perceptron and Lorentz-Equivariant Geometric Algebra Transformer), all under the constraint of limited obtainable data. Our additional aim is to motivate further studies of the interpolation of scattering amplitudes among both physicists and mathematicians.