Journal of High Energy Physics (Sep 2024)
Deep learning to improve the sensitivity of Di-Higgs searches in the 4b channel
Abstract
Abstract The study of di-Higgs events, both resonant and non-resonant, plays a crucial role in understanding the fundamental interactions of the Higgs boson. In this work we consider di-Higgs events decaying into four b-quarks and propose to improve the experimental sensitivity by utilizing a novel machine learning algorithm known as Symmetry Preserving Attention Network (Spa-Net) — a neural network structure whose architecture is designed to incorporate the inherent symmetries in particle reconstruction tasks. We demonstrate that the Spa-Net can enhance the experimental reach over baseline methods such as the cut-based and the Dense Neural Network-based analyses. At the Large Hadron Collider, with a 14-TeV center-of-mass energy and an integrated luminosity of 300 fb−1, the Spa-Net allows us to establish 95% C.L. upper limits in resonant production cross-sections that are 10% to 45% stronger than baseline methods. For non-resonant di-Higgs production, Spa-Net enables us to constrain the self-coupling that is 9% more stringent than the baseline method.
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