arXiv subjects

Andrew J. Wildridge

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew J. Wildridge.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum Steering Geometry at High Energy Particle Colliders

We formulate collider observables based on quantum steering ellipsoids (QSEs) for reconstructed bipartite systems of spin-$1/2$ particles. A collider spin density matrix defines a two-qubit state, while its QSE gives the geometry of conditional states accessible through local measurements. This makes the ellipsoid a direct probe of the quantum properties of fundamental particles, encoding polarization, spin correlation anisotropy, accessible-state volume, and the orientation of the dominant correlation axes. Using top-quark pair production as a benchmark process, we show how QSE observables organize the Standard Model spin state, probe entanglement, steerability, and Bell-nonlocality criteria, and use an expected precision metric to assess sensitivity to non-local correlations in the boosted central region. We show that different dimension-six operators generate distinctive QSE deformations, and provide a geometric interpretation of quantum information observables in high-energy particle physics. Quantum steering geometry therefore provides a unified framework for particle collider tomography, quantum information diagnostics, and precision searches for physics beyond the Standard Model with applications spanning the HL--LHC and future lepton, muon, flavor, and electron-ion collider programs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quantum Information meets High-Energy Physics: Input to the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics

Some of the most astonishing and prominent properties of Quantum Mechanics, such as entanglement and Bell nonlocality, have only been studied extensively in dedicated low-energy laboratory setups. The feasibility of these studies in the high-energy regime explored by particle colliders was only recently shown and has gathered the attention of the scientific community. For the range of particles and fundamental interactions involved, particle colliders provide a novel environment where quantum information theory can be probed, with energies exceeding by about 12 orders of magnitude those employed in dedicated laboratory setups. Furthermore, collider detectors have inherent advantages in performing certain quantum information measurements, and allow for the reconstruction of the state of the system under consideration via quantum state tomography. Here, we elaborate on the potential, challenges, and goals of this innovative and rapidly evolving line of research and discuss its expected impact on both quantum information theory and high-energy physics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Bumblebee: Foundation Model for Particle Physics Discovery

Bumblebee is a foundation model for particle physics discovery, inspired by BERT. By removing positional encodings and embedding particle 4-vectors, Bumblebee captures both generator- and reconstruction-level information while ensuring sequence-order invariance. Pre-trained on a masked task, it improves dileptonic top quark reconstruction resolution by 10-20% and excels in downstream tasks, including toponium discrimination (AUROC 0.877) and initial state classification (AUROC 0.625). The flexibility of Bumblebee makes it suitable for a wide range of particle physics applications, especially the discovery of new particles.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

Track clustering with a quantum annealer for primary vertex reconstruction at hadron colliders

Clustering of charged particle tracks along the beam axis is the first step in reconstructing the positions of hadronic interactions, also known as primary vertices, at hadron collider experiments. We use a 2036 physical qubit D-Wave quantum annealer to perform track clustering in a limited capacity on artificial events where the positions of primary vertices and tracks resemble those measured by the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The algorithm, which is not a classical-quantum hybrid but relies entirely on quantum annealing, is tested on a variety of event topologies. We demonstrate a deterministic graph-embedding of the problem on the D-Wave Chimera architecture, a method for optimizing the coupling strengths within logical qubits, and a method for optimizing annealing time. Further, we benchmark it against simulated annealing on a commercial CPU constrained to the same processor time per anneal as the physical annealer. We note a quantum advantage against simulated annealing up to a 56 logical qubit problem that involves 665 physical qubits on average. Our embedding and optimization methods, and the benchmarking paradigm, can be applied generally to other clustering problems on quantum annealers. This algorithm may be used as a building-block for more sophisticated algorithms to reach the number of primary vertices at the LHC.

hep-ex↗