Improved reconstruction of highly boosted $\tau$-lepton pairs in the $\tau\tau\rightarrow(\mu\nu_{\mu}\nu_{\tau})({hadrons}+\nu_{\tau})$ decay channels with the ATLAS detector

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new tau-lepton reconstruction method at ATLAS that improves detection efficiency for highly boosted tau pairs by removing muon signals, validated with Z boson decay data.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel tau reconstruction technique that enhances efficiency in boosted tau pair events by removing muon information, improving signal sensitivity.

Findings

Enhanced tau reconstruction efficiency in boosted events.

Good agreement between data and simulation predictions.

Improved signal sensitivity in the tau pair channel.

Abstract

This paper presents a new $\tau$-lepton reconstruction and identification procedure at the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, which leads to significantly improved performance in the case of physics processes where a highly boosted pair of $\tau$-leptons is produced and one $\tau$-lepton decays into a muon and two neutrinos ($\tau_{\mu}$), and the other decays into hadrons and one neutrino ($\tau_{had}$). By removing the muon information from the signals used for reconstruction and identification of the $\tau_{had}$ candidate in the boosted pair, the efficiency is raised to the level expected for an isolated $\tau_{had}$. The new procedure is validated by selecting a sample of highly boosted $Z\rightarrow\tau_{\mu}\tau_{had}$ candidates from the data sample of $140$ ${fb}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $13$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector. Good agreement is found between data and simulation predictions in both the $Z\rightarrow\tau_{\mu}\tau_{had}$ signal region and in a background validation region. The results presented in this paper demonstrate the effectiveness of the $\tau_{had}$ reconstruction with muon removal in enhancing the signal sensitivity of the boosted $\tau_{\mu}\tau_{had}$ channel at the ATLAS detector.