Proton structure at the LHC with neural simulation-based inference

7 May 2026, 11:00
20m
Sala IMPERIALE A, First Floor (Hotel Carlton)

Sala IMPERIALE A, First Floor

Hotel Carlton

Talk WG1 Structure Functions and Parton Densities WG1 Structure functions and parton densities

Speaker

Robert Schoefbeck

Description

The precise determination of the parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton is an essential ingredient for LHC analyses, including the upcoming High-Luminosity upgrade. PDFs are determined from a global scattering of hard scattering data taking as input unfolded low-dimensional binned cross- sections. In this work we demonstrate the feasibility of deploying neural simulation-based inference (NSBI) to constrain the proton PDFs from unbinned, high-dimensional, detector level observables taking into account all relevant experimental and theoretical systematic uncertainties. We develop procedures that allows for a detailed account of systematic uncertainties in the unbinned modeling of the high-dimensional data set and how that interplays with the PDF extraction. Adopting as proof-of-concept the determination of the large-x gluon PDFs from top quark pair production, preliminary results with our pipeline demonstrate significant sensitivity improvements as compared for traditional low-dimensional binned analyses.

Speaker confirmation Yes

Authors

Elie Hammou (University of Cambridge, DAMTP) Jaco ter Hoeve (VU Amsterdam / Nikhef) Juan Rojo (VU Amsterdam & Nikhef) Lisa Benato (PD) Luca Mantani (Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC), Universidad de Valencia-CSIC) Maria Ubiali Robert Schoefbeck Sergio Sanchez Cruz

Presentation materials