AI and the World's Hard Problems · Physics · arXiv · 2026-10-20
Agentic AI -- Physicist Collaboration in Experimental Particle Physics: A Proof-of-Concept Measurement with LEP Open Data
The authors measured the thrust distribution in e+e− collisions at 91.2 GeV using archived ALEPH data as a test of an AI-agent-driven analysis. Under physicist guidance, Claude and Codex wrote and ran all the analysis code and drafted most of the text. A fully corrected thrust spectrum was obtained with Iterative Bayesian Unfolding and Monte Carlo corrections, and the main contribution is the demonstration of the method.