Online Event Selection for Mu3e using GPUs

In the search for physics beyond the Standard Model the Mu3e experiment tries to observe the lepton flavor violating decay mu(+) -> e(+) e(-) e(+) By observing the decay products of 1 . 10(s) mu/s it aims to either observe the process, or set a new upper limit on its estimated branching ratio. The high muon rates result in high data rates of 80 Gbps, dominated by data produced through background processes. We present the Online Event Selection, a three step algorithm running on the graphics processing units (GPU) of the 12 Mu3e filter farm computers. By using simple and fast geometric selection criteria, the algorithm first reduces the amount of possible event candidates to below 5% of the initial set. These candidates are then used to reconstruct full particle tracks, correctly reconstructing over 97% of signal tracks. Finally a possible decay vertex is reconstructed using simple geometric considerations instead of a full reconstruction, correctly identifying over 94% of signal events. We also present a full implementation of the algorithm, fulfilling all performance requirements at the targeted muon rate and successfully reducing the data rate by a factor of 200.

Automated summary

The Mu3e experiment aims to observe physics beyond the Standard Model by observing the decay products of high-density muons. An online event selection algorithm is used to reduce the data rate by using simple geometric selection and reconstruction methods, achieving the targeted performance requirements.