Particle Physics Model Building with Reinforcement Learning

We provide a framework for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model with reinforcement learning using graph representations of new physics theories. The graph structure allows for model-building without a priori specifying definite numbers of new particles. As a case study, we apply our method to a simple class of theories involving vectorlike leptons and a dark U(1) inspired by the portal matter paradigm. Using modern policy gradient methods, the agent successfully explor...

We propose a method to explore the flavor structure of quarks and leptons with reinforcement learning. As a concrete model, we utilize a basic value-based algorithm for models with $U(1)$ flavor symmetry. By training neural networks on the $U(1)$ charges of quarks and leptons, the agent finds 21 models to be consistent with experimentally measured masses and mixing angles of quarks and leptons. In particular, an intrinsic value of normal ordering tends to be larger than that ...

We present a methodology for performing scans of BSM parameter spaces with reinforcement learning (RL). We identify a novel procedure using graph neural networks that is capable of exploring spaces of models without the user specifying a fixed particle content, allowing broad classes of BSM models to be explored. In theory, the technique is applicable to nearly any model space with a pre-specified gauge group. We provide a generic procedure by which a suitable graph grammar c...

Artificial Intelligence (AI), defined in its most simple form, is a technological tool that makes machines intelligent. Since learning is at the core of intelligence, machine learning poses itself as a core sub-field of AI. Then there comes a subclass of machine learning, known as deep learning, to address the limitations of their predecessors. AI has generally acquired its prominence over the past few years due to its considerable progress in various fields. AI has vastly in...

Particle physics experiments often require the reconstruction of decay patterns through a hierarchical clustering of the observed final-state particles. We show that this task can be phrased as a Markov Decision Process and adapt reinforcement learning algorithms to solve it. In particular, we show that Monte-Carlo Tree Search guided by a neural policy can construct high-quality hierarchical clusterings and outperform established greedy and beam search baselines.

Reinforcement learning holds tremendous promise in accelerator controls. The primary goal of this paper is to show how this approach can be utilised on an operational level on accelerator physics problems. Despite the success of model-free reinforcement learning in several domains, sample-efficiency still is a bottle-neck, which might be encompassed by model-based methods. We compare well-suited purely model-based to model-free reinforcement learning applied to the intensity ...

We describe an approach to learning optimal control policies for a large, linear particle accelerator using deep reinforcement learning coupled with a high-fidelity physics engine. The framework consists of an AI controller that uses deep neural nets for state and action-space representation and learns optimal policies using reward signals that are provided by the physics simulator. For this work, we only focus on controlling a small section of the entire accelerator. Neverth...

We investigate a new structure for machine learning classifiers applied to problems in high-energy physics by expanding the inputs to include not only measured features but also physics parameters. The physics parameters represent a smoothly varying learning task, and the resulting parameterized classifier can smoothly interpolate between them and replace sets of classifiers trained at individual values. This simplifies the training process and gives improved performance at i...

Deep reinforcement learning is the combination of reinforcement learning (RL) and deep learning. This field of research has been able to solve a wide range of complex decision-making tasks that were previously out of reach for a machine. Thus, deep RL opens up many new applications in domains such as healthcare, robotics, smart grids, finance, and many more. This manuscript provides an introduction to deep reinforcement learning models, algorithms and techniques. Particular f...

This paper introduces the QMDP-net, a neural network architecture for planning under partial observability. The QMDP-net combines the strengths of model-free learning and model-based planning. It is a recurrent policy network, but it represents a policy for a parameterized set of tasks by connecting a model with a planning algorithm that solves the model, thus embedding the solution structure of planning in a network learning architecture. The QMDP-net is fully differentiable...