Finding physics signals with event deconstruction

Abstract

We develop a matrix element based reconstruction method called event deconstruction. The method uses information from the hard matrix element and a parton shower to assign probabilities to whether a final state was initiated by a signal or background process. We apply this method in the signal process of a Z′ decaying to boosted top quarks in an all hadronic final state and discuss envisioned improvements of the method. We find that event deconstruction can considerably improve on existing reconstruction techniques. © 2014 American Physical Society.