Opportunities for theory studies with public collider data: Snowmass 2021

TL;DR

Open collider datasets offer a promising avenue for theorists to test models, enhance collaboration, and potentially accelerate discoveries in particle physics, building on recent successes with CMS data.

Contribution

This paper highlights the potential of open collider data to expand theoretical research and collaboration, emphasizing recent progress and addressing associated concerns.

Findings

Theorists have successfully used CMS open data for new physics searches.

Open data can increase the scope and diversity of analyses in particle physics.

Community discussions are ongoing about the impact of open data on the field.

Abstract

Over the last 20+ years, experimentalists have presented tantalizing hints of physics beyond the standard model, but nothing definitive. With the wealth of data from experiments, in particular the collider experiments, it is imperative that the community leave no reasonable model untested and no search unsought. Open datasets from particle physics experiments provide a relatively new and exciting opportunity to extend the reach of these searches by bringing in additional personpower in the form of the theory community. Analysis of these datasets also provides the opportunity for an increased information flow between theorists and experimentalists, an activity which can only benefit the entire field. This paper discusses the potential of this effort, informed by the successes of the last 5 years in the form of results produced by theorists making use of open collider data, primarily the datasets released by the CMS collaboration. Concerns about the potential negative impact on the field are also discussed. For a more detailed accounting of these concerns, see Ref. [1] of the bibliography.