A new tagger for hadronically decaying heavy particles at the LHC

TL;DR

The paper introduces HOTVR, a new jet tagging algorithm that adapts to the transverse momentum of particles, improving identification of boosted, hadronically decaying heavy particles like top quarks at the LHC.

Contribution

The HOTVR algorithm combines jet clustering, subjet finding, and soft cluster rejection into a single, efficient procedure tailored for identifying boosted heavy particles.

Findings

HOTVR demonstrates stable performance across a wide range of top quark transverse momenta.

The algorithm effectively distinguishes boosted top decays from background.

HOTVR simplifies heavy particle tagging with minimal algorithmic complexity.

Abstract

A new algorithm for the identification of boosted, hadronically decaying, heavy particles at the LHC is presented. The algorithm is based on the known procedure of jet clustering with variable distance parameter $R$ and adapts the jet size to its transverse momentum $p_T$. Subjets are found using a mass jump condition. The resulting algorithm - called Heavy Object Tagger with Variable $R$ (HOTVR) - features little algorithmic complexity and combines jet clustering, subjet finding and rejection of soft clusters in one sequence. While the HOTVR algorithm can be used for the identification of any heavy object decaying hadronically, e.g. W, Z, H, t, or possible new heavy resonances, this paper targets specifically the tagging of boosted top quarks. The studies presented here demonstrate a stable performance of the HOTVR algorithm in a wide range of top quark $p_T$, from low $p_T$, where the decay products can be resolved, to the region of boosted decays at high $p_T$.