The Hidden Geometry of Particle Collisions
Jesse Thaler (MIT)
Tuesday, 19 October 2021 at 16:00 on Zoom
Abstract
In this talk, I explain how various concepts and techniques in quantum field theory and collider physics can be naturally translated into a new geometric language. Using the energy mover's distance, which quantifies the minimal amount of "work" required to rearrange one event into another, we can define a distance between pairs of collider events. This distance can then be used to triangulate the "space" of collider events and rigorously define various geometric objects. Many well-known collider observables, jet algorithms, and pileup mitigation schemes have a simple geometric interpretation, as does the important concept of infrared and collinear safety. This work helps illuminate the emerging connections between quantum field theory and machine learning.