Flavoured jet algorithms: a comparative study

TL;DR

This study compares IRC-safe heavy-flavour jet algorithms using QCD calculations and simulations, showing they improve flavour identification robustness across different energies and processes, aiding precision collider physics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of new IRC-safe heavy-flavour jet algorithms across various processes and regimes, highlighting their performance and potential for improved flavour tagging.

Findings

All algorithms outperform current techniques in robustness.

Performance varies with observable and energy regime.

Algorithms enable more reliable flavour assignments.

Abstract

The accurate identification of heavy-flavour jets, those which originate from bottom or charm quarks, is crucial for precision studies of the Standard Model and searches for new physics. However, assigning flavour to jets presents significant challenges, primarily due to issues with infrared and collinear (IRC) safety. This paper aims to address these challenges by evaluating recently-proposed jet algorithms designed to be IRC-safe and applicable in high-precision measurements. We compare these algorithms across benchmark heavy-flavour production processes and kinematic regimes that are relevant for LHC phenomenology. Exploiting both fixed-order calculations in QCD as well as parton shower simulations, we analyse the infrared sensitivity of these new algorithms at different stages of the event evolution and compare to flavour-labelling strategies currently adopted by LHC collaborations. The results highlight that, while all algorithms lead to more robust flavour-assignments compared to current techniques, they vary in performance depending on the observable and energy regime. The study lays groundwork for robust, flavour-aware jet analyses in current and future collider experiments to maximise the physics potential of experimental data by reducing discrepancies between theoretical and experimental methods.