Machine learning proliferates in particle physics

Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider produce about a million gigabytes of data every second. Even after reduction and compression, the data amassed in just one hour at the LHC is similar to the data volume Facebook collects in an entire year. Luckily, particle physicists don't have to deal with all of that data all by themselves. They partner with a form of artificial intelligence that learns how to do complex analyses on its own, called machine learning. "Compared to a traditional computer algorithm that we design to do a specific analysis, we design a machine learning algorithm to figure out for itself how to do various analyses, potentially saving us countless man-hours of design and analysis work," says College of William & Mary physicist Alexander Radovic, who works on the NOvA neutrino experiment.