Searches for new particles often span a wide range of mass scales, where the shape of potential signals and the SM background varies significantly. We make use of a multivariate method that fully exploits the correlation between signal and background features and the explored mass scale, and is trained on a sample that is balanced across the entire mass range. The classifiers, either a neural network or a boosted decision tree, produce a continuous output across the full mass range and, at a given mass, achieve nearly the same performance as a classifier specifically trained for that mass. The performance of the classifiers is better than the one obtained with parameterised neural networks and similar methods.
@article{arxiv.2503.20926,
title = {Mass-unspecific classifiers for mass-dependent searches},
author = {J. A. Aguilar-Saavedra and S. Rodríguez-Benítez},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.20926},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
LaTeX 7 pages, 6 figures. Added several more classifiers and discussions. Final version in EPJC