Opportunities for theory studies with public collider data: Snowmass 2021

Abstract

Over the last 20+ years, experimentalists have presented tantalizing hints of physics beyond the standard model, but nothing definitive. With the wealth of data from experiments, in particular the collider experiments, it is imperative that the community leave no reasonable model untested and no search unsought. Open datasets from particle physics experiments provide a relatively new and exciting opportunity to extend the reach of these searches by bringing in additional personpower in the form of the theory community. Analysis of these datasets also provides the opportunity for an increased information flow between theorists and experimentalists, an activity which can only benefit the entire field. This paper discusses the potential of this effort, informed by the successes of the last 5 years in the form of results produced by theorists making use of open collider data, primarily the datasets released by the CMS collaboration. Concerns about the potential negative impact on the field are also discussed. For a more detailed accounting of these concerns, see Ref. [1] of the bibliography.