Speaker
Description
High-activity proton–proton collisions exhibit complex event topologies and correlation patterns that may provide information about collective phenomena and the emergence of medium-like behaviour in small collision systems. Identifying suitable observables, however, generally requires the manual construction and exploration of many possible spatial, event-shape and multiparticle correlations.
We investigate Pauli-correlation encoding as a systematic method for discovering correlation-sensitive features in collider events. Spatial representations of the event are mapped into simulated quantum circuits, from which Pauli observables are extracted and used as candidate descriptors of event topology. The circuit therefore acts as a structured feature generator, providing an efficient way to explore local and non-local correlations and to study their sensitivity to the spatial granularity of the event representation.
The method is evaluated in an initial benchmark based on publicly available CMS proton–proton collision data. Events from different data samples are compared at similar global activity, reducing the influence of overall event scale and emphasizing differences in their spatial structure. Preliminary results show that the circuit-derived representation retains relevant topology information and achieves classification performance comparable to conventional event observables. Comparisons with equivalent classical spatial correlations indicate that the current result does not constitute a quantum advantage. Its main value is instead the possibility of generating and screening correlation candidates systematically, without defining every possible classical feature individually.
This study provides a reproducible framework for investigating how correlation observables respond to changes in event shape, spatial resolution and collision activity. Ongoing work extends the analysis toward multiplicity-dependent event classes, alternative granularities and observables connected with long-range correlations, anisotropic flow and multiparticle structure. These developments will establish a controlled path toward applications in (pp), (p)Pb and PbPb systems and the characterization of correlation patterns associated with collective and QGP-related phenomena.