Improving estimates of the number of ‘fake’ leptons and other mis-reconstructed objects in hadron collider events: BoB’s your UNCLE

Abstract

We consider current and alternative approaches to setting limits on new physics signals having backgrounds from misidentified objects; for example jets misidentified as leptons, b-jets or photons. Many ATLAS and CMS analyses have used a heuristic “matrix method” for estimating the background contribution from such sources. We demonstrate that the matrix method suffers from statistical shortcomings that can adversely affect its ability to set robust limits. A rigorous alternative method is discussed, and is seen to produce fake rate estimates and limits with better qualities, but is found to be too costly to use. Having investigated the nature of the approximations used to derive the matrix method, we propose a third strategy that is seen to marry the speed of the matrix method to the performance and physicality of the more rigorous approach.