María Vieites Díaz and Richard Williams

Tau Reconstruction Strategies at LHCb

Titor: María Vieites Díaz

Supervisor: Richard Williams

Rare decays involving tau leptons are currently one of the most exciting topics in particle physics, as they provide a unique opportunity to uncover hints of physics beyond the Standard Model. However, the reconstruction of tau leptons is one of the greatest experimental challenges in flavour physics, since their decays produce neutrinos that escape detection, severely degrading the resolution of key observables and increasing background contamination. In this project, the selected student will study both leptonic and hadronic tau decay modes, comparing their reconstruction performance using simulated LHCb data. Advanced analysis techniques, including Boosted Decision Trees, Neural Networks, and modern optimisation tools, will be used to maximise signal sensitivity and identify the most promising strategy for future measurements with tau leptons in the final state.