Schlagwort: ‘Large Hadron Collider’
Deep learning in particle physics: RIA lecture by Professor Johannes Erdmann on AI at CERN
Professor Johannes Erdmann from the 3rd Physics Institute A at RWTH Aachen University © Johannes Erdmann
How can the crucial signals be found among billions of particle collisions? Professor Johannes Erdmann will answer this question in the next RIA lecture. On Wednesday, 29 April 2026, from 5:00 to 6:30pm, he will explain how deep learning helps researchers at CERN to identify rare physical processes and gain new insights into the building blocks of matter.
At CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, researchers investigate the properties of elementary particles by studying their behaviour in high-energy collisions. The process generates large amounts of data, which is recorded using detectors such as the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) detector. Scientists from RWTH Aachen University are also involved in experiments using this detector. These experiments are on an enormous scale: up to 40 million particle collisions per second and more than 100 million detector channels generate huge amounts of data, the evaluation of which poses a major challenge.
This is where artificial intelligence methods come into play. In recent years, deep learning has become an important tool for analysing complex data sets from particle experiments, providing a more precise understanding of the fundamental building blocks of matter.
A key objective of the analysis is to identify extremely rare physical processes within these vast data sets – the proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’. Artificial neural networks can distinguish particle signatures in the detector more precisely and detect rare events more reliably. This allows for more precise measurements and provides new insights into fundamental physical processes.
Professor Erdmann is head of the ‘Big Data Analysis in Physics’ teaching and research area at RWTH Aachen University. His research focuses on analysing data from the CMS experiment at the LHC, as well as developing deep learning methods for future experiments, such as the planned Einstein Telescope for observing gravitational waves.
The lecture will take place online via Zoom and is free to attend. A video of the lecture and subsequent discussion will be available in the YouTube-Playlist shortly after the event.
This event is organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Computer Science at RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Regional Group of the German Informatics Society (RIA), the Regional Industry Club for Computer Science Aachen (REGINA), the FH Aachen and the Aachen Group of the German University Association.
Interested parties are welcome to pass on the invitation. Those who would like to receive regular updates about future RIA lectures can email vortrag@i3.informatik.rwth-aachen.de.
