Data analyses in particle physics rely on an accurate simulation of particle collisions and a detailed simulation of detector effects to extract physics knowledge from the recorded data. Event generators together with a geant-based simulation of the detectors are used to produce large samples of simulated events for analysis by the LHC experiments. These simulations come at a high computational cost, where the detector simulation and reconstruction algorithms have the largest CPU demands. This article describes how machine-learning (ML) techniques are used to reweight simulated samples obtained with a given set of parameters to samples with different parameters or samples obtained from entirely different simulation programs. The ML reweighting method avoids the need for simulating the detector response multiple times by incorporating the relevant information in a single sample through event weights. Results are presented for reweighting to model variations and higher-order calculations in simulated top quark pair production at the LHC. This ML-based reweighting is an important element of the future computing model of the CMS experiment and will facilitate precision measurements at the High-Luminosity LHC.

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This paper presents single lepton and dilepton kinematic distributions measured in dileptonic t t ¯ events produced in 20.2 fb - 1 of s = 8 TeV pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Both absolute and normalised differential cross-sections are measured, using events with an opposite-charge e μ pair and one or two b-tagged jets. The cross-sections are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the detector acceptance for leptons, and are compared to the predictions from a variety of Monte Carlo event generators, as well as fixed-order QCD calculations, exploring the sensitivity of the cross-sections to the gluon parton distribution function. Some of the distributions are also sensitive to the top quark pole mass; a combined fit of NLO fixed-order predictions to all the measured distributions yields a top quark mass value of m t pole = 173.2 ± 0.9 ± 0.8 ± 1.2 GeV, where the three uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental systematics, and theoretical sources.

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Normalized double-differential cross sections for top quark pair ([Formula: see text]) production are measured in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8[Formula: see text] with the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7[Formula: see text]. The measurement is performed in the dilepton [Formula: see text] final state. The [Formula: see text] cross section is determined as a function of various pairs of observables characterizing the kinematics of the top quark and [Formula: see text] system. The data are compared to calculations using perturbative quantum chromodynamics at next-to-leading and approximate next-to-next-to-leading orders. They are also compared to predictions of Monte Carlo event generators that complement fixed-order computations with parton showers, hadronization, and multiple-parton interactions. Overall agreement is observed with the predictions, which is improved when the latest global sets of proton parton distribution functions are used. The inclusion of the measured [Formula: see text] cross sections in a fit of parametrized parton distribution functions is shown to have significant impact on the gluon distribution.

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This article presents measurements of [Formula: see text] differential cross-sections in a fiducial phase-space region, using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb[Formula: see text] of proton-proton data at a centre-of-mass energy of [Formula: see text] TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and absolute rapidity of the top quark, and of the transverse momentum, absolute rapidity and invariant mass of the [Formula: see text] system. The [Formula: see text] events are selected by requiring one electron and one muon of opposite electric charge, and at least two jets, one of which must be tagged as containing a b-hadron. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions of next-to-leading order generators matched to parton showers and the measurements are found to be consistent with all models within the experimental uncertainties with the exception of the Powheg-Box [Formula: see text] Herwig++ predictions, which differ significantly from the data in both the transverse momentum of the top quark and the mass of the [Formula: see text] system.

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