Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schott, Matthias, Flek, Lucie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.07471
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909025882341376
author Schott, Matthias
Flek, Lucie
author_facet Schott, Matthias
Flek, Lucie
contents Machine-learning models in high-energy physics are often trained on simulated data, where fully simulated samples are computationally expensive while fast simulation provides large statistics at reduced realism. In this work, we systematically study transfer learning between fast-simulated and fully simulated datasets in a realistic LHC environment. We consider three representative tasks, signal-background classification, quark-gluon jet tagging, and missing transverse energy reconstruction, using dense neural networks, graph neural networks, and transformer-based architectures. Models are pretrained on ATLAS-like fast simulation and adapted to CMS-like fast simulation and to fully simulated ATLAS Open Data. Across all tasks, pretrained models consistently outperform independently trained baselines and require significantly less target-domain training data, typically reducing the needed statistics by about a factor of two. These results demonstrate that fast simulation can be used to learn robust, reusable representations and motivate publishing trained models as reusable scientific assets beyond large foundation models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_07471
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Transfer Learning Across Fast- and Full-Simulation Domains in High-Energy Physics
Schott, Matthias
Flek, Lucie
Machine Learning
High Energy Physics - Experiment
Machine-learning models in high-energy physics are often trained on simulated data, where fully simulated samples are computationally expensive while fast simulation provides large statistics at reduced realism. In this work, we systematically study transfer learning between fast-simulated and fully simulated datasets in a realistic LHC environment. We consider three representative tasks, signal-background classification, quark-gluon jet tagging, and missing transverse energy reconstruction, using dense neural networks, graph neural networks, and transformer-based architectures. Models are pretrained on ATLAS-like fast simulation and adapted to CMS-like fast simulation and to fully simulated ATLAS Open Data. Across all tasks, pretrained models consistently outperform independently trained baselines and require significantly less target-domain training data, typically reducing the needed statistics by about a factor of two. These results demonstrate that fast simulation can be used to learn robust, reusable representations and motivate publishing trained models as reusable scientific assets beyond large foundation models.
title Transfer Learning Across Fast- and Full-Simulation Domains in High-Energy Physics
topic Machine Learning
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.07471