Jets Without Jets

Note: Time: 3:30 PM...... Refreshments served
Speaker: Jesse Thaler, MIT

When: December 5, 2013 (Thu), 03:30PM to 04:30PM (add to my calendar)
Location: PRB 595
Hosted by: Tulika Bose, Martin Schmaltz

This event is part of the HEE Seminar Series.

Abstract: Jets a play a key role at the LHC both for testing the standard model and for searching for new phenomena. Traditionally, jet studies have been based on jet algorithms which cluster final-state particles into unique jet objects. In this talk, I present an alternative way to think about jets, by showing how a broad class of jet-based observables can be replaced by closed-form event shapes. These event shapes do not require any kind of jet clustering, but they still involve a jet-like radius R and a jet-like pT cut. I will discuss various applications of these event shapes, including non-integer jet counting, trigger-level event selection, pile-up mitigation, and jet substructure. Along the way, I will suggest how traditional jet studies might be improved by using a new winner-take-all approach to jet clustering.