en

Erasmus-intensive week on
Machine Learning Methods
in High Energy Physics

Date: 24.-28. February 2025,

Place: Conference room-II, Physikalisches Institut, Nussallee 12, 53115 Bonn, Germany

This is a 4 ECTS credit course in the framework of the Erasmus Blended
Intensive Program. Data analysis supported by machine learning tools such as
articificial neural networks (ANN) are vital tools in modern experimental
particle physics. The intensive week will introduce students to statistical and
machine learning methods in particle physics with example data from the
ATLAS experiment at CERN.

All lectures and tutorials will be held in English.

This course is also available to Bonn students as physics719, intensive week in high energy physics

Contact: Dr. Eckhard von Toerne, Email: evt<at>physik.uni-bonn.de
Physikalisches Institut, Room 2.017, Nussallee 12, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Tentative Timetable, Mo-Fri 24-28th Feb

Monday:
Morning:
  • Welcome and Registration
  • Introduction to design and training of artificial neural networks (ANN)
Afternoon:
  • Python tutorial 
  • Tutorial: How to design and train a neural network with Keras/Tensorflow
Tuesday:
Morning:
  • The 2024 Nobel prize in physics, the theory of spin glasses and its connection to ANNs
  • Training of deep neural networks
Afternoon:
  • Python tutorial part 2
  • Data challenge: optimizing the ANN training. Introduction to training and selection bias and how to avoid both
Wednesday:
Morning:
  • Physics at the large hadron collider (LHC)
  • ANNs as tools for discovery at the LHC
Afternoon:
  • Tutorial: Training ANNs with the data of the ATLAS Higgs Boson Machine Learning Challenge 
  • Lab visit: the Bonn detector development facility (FTD)

Evening: group dinner

Thursday:
Morning:
  • Physics at the LHC, part 2
  • Fast ANN implementations for particle physics applications on specific hardware
Afternoon:
  • Social event: Weiberfastnacht in Bonn
Friday:
Morning: 
  • Tutorial: ATLAS Higgs Boson Machine Learning Challenge, part 2
Afternoon: 
  • Buffer and wrap-up
  • Question time

Further Details

  • Target Group: Advanced bachelor students, master and doctoral students.
    Requirements: Bachelor-level course in nuclear and/or particle physics plus
    course in quantum mechanics.
  • Examination: Seminar talk on project results, to be held remotely after the
    intensive week via Zoom (4 ECTS credits).
  • All presentations will be in English.
  • The intensive week in Bonn will be in-person.
  • We have reservations for the youth hostel in Bonn (arrival Feb 23rd). Please ask your local Erasmus 
    coordinator about travel stipends to cover travel and lodging.
  • The week-long meeting in Bonn is augmented by a short orientation session
    via Zoom a few days before the workshop, and a block seminar (half-day)
    after the intensive week, also online via Zoom. The exact dates of the online
    elements will be determined so that it fits the schedule of all participants.

Course Material 

Here we will post lecture slides, tutorial scripts (jupyter) and training/evaluation data.