Efficiency Calculations and Efficacy of a Displaced Vertex Control Region for Dark Photons Decaying to Lepton Jets
Session Number
Project ID: PHYS 21
Advisor(s)
Dr. Peter Dong, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Discipline
Physical Science
Start Date
17-4-2024 9:40 AM
End Date
17-4-2024 9:55 AM
Abstract
Many different theories of dark matter and the dark sector predict a massive dark photon of GeV scale mass, with an event signature of opposite-sign leptons (in this case, muons) forming a lepton jet (a lepton pair with a very small angle between the leptons). Calculations of lepton jet efficiency under different cuts are needed to determine the potential of a displaced vertex control region for the dark photon. An effective control region is used to select experimental data with very little signal, giving a more realistic picture of our expected background than a Monte Carlo generated background. The control region considered in this study uses a displaced vertex cut, looking at particle tracks originating from points a certain distance from the original proton interaction point. An important part of testing the efficacy of this control region is calculating lepton jet efficiency for generated signal and background data. These results will contribute to future searches for the dark photon at CMS, and help in our understanding of phenomena beyond the Standard Model.
Efficiency Calculations and Efficacy of a Displaced Vertex Control Region for Dark Photons Decaying to Lepton Jets
Many different theories of dark matter and the dark sector predict a massive dark photon of GeV scale mass, with an event signature of opposite-sign leptons (in this case, muons) forming a lepton jet (a lepton pair with a very small angle between the leptons). Calculations of lepton jet efficiency under different cuts are needed to determine the potential of a displaced vertex control region for the dark photon. An effective control region is used to select experimental data with very little signal, giving a more realistic picture of our expected background than a Monte Carlo generated background. The control region considered in this study uses a displaced vertex cut, looking at particle tracks originating from points a certain distance from the original proton interaction point. An important part of testing the efficacy of this control region is calculating lepton jet efficiency for generated signal and background data. These results will contribute to future searches for the dark photon at CMS, and help in our understanding of phenomena beyond the Standard Model.