Journal of High Energy Physics (Jun 2020)

Using neural networks for efficient evaluation of high multiplicity scattering amplitudes

  • Simon Badger,
  • Joseph Bullock

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2020)114
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2020, no. 6
pp. 1 – 26

Abstract

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Abstract Precision theoretical predictions for high multiplicity scattering rely on the evaluation of increasingly complicated scattering amplitudes which come with an extremely high CPU cost. For state-of-the-art processes this can cause technical bottlenecks in the production of fully differential distributions. In this article we explore the possibility of using neural networks to approximate multi-variable scattering amplitudes and provide efficient inputs for Monte Carlo integration. We focus on QCD corrections to e + e − → jets up to one-loop and up to five jets. We demonstrate reliable interpolation when a series of networks are trained to amplitudes that have been divided into sectors defined by their infrared singularity structure. Complete simulations for one-loop distributions show speed improvements of at least an order of magnitude over a standard approach.

Keywords