Neural networks for boosted di-τ identification

Abstract

We train several neural networks and boosted decision trees to discriminate fully-hadronic boosted di-τ topologies against background QCD jets, using calorimeter and tracking information. Boosted di-τ topologies consisting of a pair of highly collimated τ-leptons, arise from the decay of a highly energetic Standard Model Higgs or Z boson or from particles beyond the Standard Model. We compare the tagging performance for different neural-network models and a boosted decision tree, the latter serving as a simple benchmark machine learning model. The code used to obtain the results presented in this paper is available on GitHub.