ADFilter—A Web Tool for New Physics Searches with Autoencoder-Based Anomaly Detection Using Deep Unsupervised Neural Networks

A web-based tool called ADFilter (short for Anomaly Detection Filter) was developed to process collision events using autoencoders based on a deep unsupervised neural network. The autoencoders are trained on a small fraction of either collision data or Standard Model (SM) Monte Carlo simulations. The tool calculates loss distributions for input events, helping to determine the degree to which the events can be considered anomalous with respect to the SM events used for training. Therefore, it can be used for new physics searches in collider experiments. Real-life examples are provided to demonstrate how the tool can be used to reinterpret existing results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), with the goal of significantly improving exclusion limits. This tool is expected to mitigate the “reproducibility crisis” associated with various machine learning techniques, as it can incorporate machine learning approaches from third-party publications, making them accessible to the general public.