Strategies for Machine Learning Applied to Noisy HEP Datasets: Modular Solid State Detectors from SuperCDMS

Background reduction in the SuperCDMS dark matter experiment depends on removing surface events within individual detectors by identifying the location of each incident particle interaction. Position reconstruction is achieved by combining pulse shape information over multiple phonon channels, a task well-suited to machine learning techniques. Data from an Am-241 scan of a SuperCDMS SNOLAB detector was used to study a selection of statistical approaches, including linear regression, artificial neural networks, and symbolic regression. Our results showed that simpler linear regression models were better able than artificial neural networks to generalize on such a noisy and minimal data set, but there are indications that certain architectures and training configurations can counter overfitting tendencies. This study will be repeated on a more complete SuperCDMS data set (in progress) to explore the interplay between data quality and the application of neural networks.