TauSpinner program for studies on spin effect in tau production at the LHC

TL;DR

TauSpinner is a novel software tool that enables simulation and analysis of tau spin effects in LHC data, improving the accuracy of tau polarization and correlation measurements in high-energy physics experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible algorithm for emulating tau spin effects directly at the analysis level, a first in tau physics analysis tools.

Findings

First algorithm for emulating tau spin effects in tau-embedded samples

Allows simulation of desired spin effects at analysis level

Provides an algorithm to assign tau helicity states to existing samples

Abstract

Final states involving tau leptons are important components of searches for new particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A proper treatment of tau spin effects in the Monte Carlo (MC) simulations is important for understanding the detector acceptance as well as for the measurements of tau polarization and tau spin correlations. In this note we present a TauSpinner package designed to simulate the spin effects. It relies on the availability of the four-momenta of the taus and their decay products in the analyzed data. The flavor and the four-momentum of the boson decaying to the tau-tau+ or tau+- nu pair need to be known. In the Z/gamma* case the initial state quark configuration is attributed from the intermediate boson kinematics, and the parton distribution functions (PDF's). TauSpinner is the first algorithm suitable for emulation of tau spin effects in tau-embedded samples. It is also the first tool that offers the user the flexibility to simulate a desired spin effect at the analysis level. An algorithm to attribute tau helicity states to a previously generated sample is also provided.