• 2025, PAT2312224, FWF (1 PostDoc) "Harnessing energy correlators for a precise top quark mass"
• 2025, PAT453824, FWF (1 PostDoc + 1PhD) "Beyond bins: A Machine-learned SMEFT analysis of top quarks"
• 2022, I5687, FWF/FWO/SNSF weave Projekt ( 2 PhD ) "A ternary approach to the four-top quark discovery at the LHC", trilateral with UGent and UNIGE
• 2020, P33771, FWF Standalone Projekt ( 1 PostDoc ) "The tWZ process and the couplings of the top quark"
• 2018, P31578, FWF Standalone Projekt ( 1 Ph.D. ) "New LHC physics in the top quark electro-weak interactions"
• 2015, I2479, FWO/FWF bilateral project ( 1 Ph.D. ) "Search for natural supersymmetry with 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC with the CMS detector"
• 2014, P26771, FWF Standalone Projekt ( 1 Ph.D. + 1 Master Student ) "Testing natural supersymmetry at the high energy proton-proton run at the LHC"

• 2015-2016 Postdoctoral Fellow - Ghent University (UGent)
• 2016-2017 CERN, Scientific Associate

• Since 2025 Editor of MLST - "Machine Learning in Science and Technology"
• Regularly refereeing for
  • European Physics Journal C
  • Physics Letters B,
  • Physical Review D,
  • SciPost etc.

2023 Senior Distinguished Research Fellow, Fermilab, Batavia, US

• Convenerships
    - 09/2025: L2 Convener of the CMS TOP Physics Analysis Group (L2)
    - 2022-2024: Convener of the LHC EFT working group
    - 02/2020 - 09/2021: L3 CMS subgroup convener for top mass and properties measurements
    - 2019: L3 CMS subgroup convener for future Standard Model measurements
    - 10/2015 - 09/2017: L2 CMS convener of the JetMET group
    - 01/2014 - 09/2015: L3 CMS subgroup convener of the MET group
    - 01/2012 - 12/2013: L3 CMS subgroup convener of the JME DQM group
    - 2011: Leader of the CMS MET scanning team
   
•   Other roles
   - since 2026: International Advisory Committee for the TOP Conference series
   - since 2023: Member of the EU Cost Action COMETA
   - 2021 - 2024: Austrian representative in the FCC Collaboration Board
   - 2021 - 2023: Chair of the committee for nuclear and particle physics (FAKT) of the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG)
   - since 01/2020: Group leader of the CMS Data Analysis group at HEPHY
   - 2017 - 2021: ECFA representative of Austria
   - 2012 - 2013: Member of CMS Career Committee
   - 01/2011 - 11/2015: Leader of the Vienna SUSY Group at HEPHY

• 2026 WS, 2022 WS, 2020 WS"Experimental Particle Physics" Lecture at Karl Franzens University, Graz
• 2019 SS, "Atom-, Kern- und Teilchenphysik" UE, TU Wien
• 2018 WS, 2020 WS "Experimental Particle Physics" Lecture at Karl Franzens University, Graz
• 2017 WS Physics at the LHC: Measurement of the Higgs Boson and Searches for Supersymmetry
• 2010 WS Lecturer at the Technical University Vienna
  • “Statistical methods of data analysis”
  • “Graduates’ seminar on particles and interactions”

• PhD supervision
  • Ali Kaan Guven (since 2023)
  • Andreas Gruber (CERN, since 2022)
  • Zenny Wettersten (CERN, since 2022)
  • Cristina Giordano (since 2022)
  • Maryam Shooshtari (since 2022)
  • Mangesh Sanowane (2021-2024)
  • Lukas Lechner (2018-2021)
  • Daniel Spitzbart (2016-2019)
  • Wolfgang Kiesenhofer (2010-2013)
  • Ece Asilar (2014-2017)
  • Christine Rohringer (2012-2013)
• Master students
  • Simon Hablas (2026), Matthias Kettner (2024), Andreas Gruber (2022), Rosmarie Schöfbeck (2022), Benjamin Wilhelmy (ETH, 2022), Lena Wild (2023), Max Moser (2020-2021), Markus Doppler (2019-2020),Georg Mörtl (2019), Tim Brueckler (2019-2020), Tommy Tschida (2019-2020), David Handl (2015), Daniel Spitzbart (2015), Stefan Dunkler (2013), Janos Kancsar (2012-2013), Marc Duenser (2010-2011), Gregor Kasieczka (2009-2010)
• PA/Bacc.
  • Lukas Goldschmied, Gerhard Ungersbäck, Dominik Freisinger, Laurenz Ruzicka, Anselm Demattio, Christian Adleff, Clemens Jochum, Andreas Angerer, Markus Wallerberger, David Handl, Markus Hickel, Hedda Gressl, Daniel Spitzbart, Phillip Schicho, Lena Wild, Stefan Rohhsap, Maximiliam Moser, Meikee Pagsinohin, Raphael Gurschl, Martina Fellinger

Top Quark & Higgs measurements with CMS

With data from the CMS experiment, I study the properties of the top quark and the Higgs boson, including possible anomalous couplings. In some cases, these analyses also lead to the observation of new production processes. By confronting theoretical predictions with experimental data, these measurements provide precise tests of the Standard Model and sensitive probes of possible physics beyond it.

• JHEP 03 (2025) 114, “Constraints on standard model effective field theory for a Higgs boson produced in association with W or Z bosons in the H → bb̄ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• CMS-PAS-TOP-24-008, “Search for physics beyond the standard model in four and three top quark production events using proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Lett. B 847 (2023) 138290, “Observation of four top quark production in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• JHEP 05 (2022) 091, “Measurement of the inclusive and differential ttγ cross sections in the dilepton channel and effective field theory interpretation in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• JHEP 03 (2020) 056, “Measurement of top quark pair production in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• JHEP 08 (2018) 011, “Measurement of the cross section for top quark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 114018, “Constraining the Higgs boson valence contribution in the proton”, R. Schöfbeck et al.

Neural Simulation-based inference

A new generation of measurements is underway that employ machine-learning methods for precision phenomenology, with a focus on simulation-based inference, likelihood-free methods, and effective field theory analyses. This includes neural networks and tree-based methods for EFT parameter estimation, unbinned inference strategies, symmetry-aware architectures.

• Phys. Rev. D 109 (2024) 076012, “Rotation-equivariant graph neural network for learning hadronic SMEFT effects”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• arXiv:2205.12976, “Learning the EFT likelihood with tree boosting”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• Comput. Phys. Commun. 277 (2022) 108385, “Tree boosting for learning EFT parameters”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• Mach. Learn.: Sci. Technol. 6 (2025) 015007, “Refinable modeling for unbinned SMEFT analyses”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• Phys. Rev. D 112 (2025) 052006, “Unbinned inclusive cross-section measurements with machine-learned systematic uncertainties”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• arXiv:2410.02867, “FAIR Universe HiggsML Uncertainty Dataset and Competition”, FAIR Universe Collaboration

Top Mass and Energy Correlators

Precise theoretical predictions are usually obtained from Quantum field theory, encoded in event generators. But that's not the only possibility to confron theory and experiment. With colleagues in theory, we've devised a strategy for a precision top-quark mass measurement, based on energy correlators which is not even an event-by-event observable. Currently, we carry it out with real data.

• Phys. Rev. Lett. 134 (2025) 231903, “Using the W Boson as a Standard Candle to Reach the Top: Calibrating Energy-Correlator-Based Top Mass Measurements”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• PoS(ICHEP2024) 368, “Using the W as a standard candle to reach the top”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• JHEP 04 (2025) 072, “Top quark mass extractions from energy correlators: a feasibility study”, R. Schöfbeck et al.

GPU acceleration / Event simulation

With a PhD student in a group at CERN, we develop new computational methods for collider phenomenology, including faster event generation and simulation workflows employing GPUs. That speeds up the simulation process although it is sometimes not the GPU hardware that does the trick but rather a thorough optimization of the standard code.

• Eur. Phys. J. C 85 (2025) 1448, “Rapid event extraction and tensorial event adaption”, R. Schöfbeck et al.
• EPJ Web Conf. 295 (2024) 10001, “Acceleration beyond lowest order event generation. An outlook on further parallelism within MadGraph5_aMC@NLO”, R. Schöfbeck et al.

SUSY - measurements with CMS

For a long time, I searched for signs of phenomena beyond the standard model that predict highly energetic events. These analyses target supersymmetric top-squark and related scenarios across a range of kinematic regimes and use precision event reconstruction or robust background estimations to distinguish possible new-physics signals from Standard Model backgrounds.

• Eur. Phys. J. C 81 (2021) 3, “Search for top squark pair production using dilepton final states in pp collision data collected at √s = 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Rev. D 95 (2017) 012011, “Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Lett. B 780 (2018) 384, “Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets exploiting the angular correlation between the lepton and the missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Lett. B 759 (2016) 9, “Search for supersymmetry in events with soft leptons, low jet multiplicity, and missing transverse energy in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV”, CMS Collaboration
• Phys. Lett. B 733 (2014) 328, “Search for supersymmetry in pp collisions at 8 TeV in events with a single lepton, large jet multiplicity, and multiple b jets”, CMS Collaboration
• JHEP 08 (2011) 156, “Search for supersymmetry in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV in events with a single lepton, jets, and missing transverse momentum”, CMS Collaboration

Missing Energy

Many signals of supersymmetry include large missing transverse momentum, an event property that is uncommon in the standard model. To facilitate the reconstruction and performance of missing transverse momentum, a full understanding of the detector is needed, including all its gaps and crack. To facilitate the SUSY searches and to improve other measurements, I worked on detector-level performance studies, calibration, and improved reconstruction methods for CMS data.

• JINST 6 (2011) P09001, “Missing transverse energy performance of the CMS detector”, CMS Collaboration
• JINST 14 (2019) P07004, “Performance of missing transverse momentum reconstruction in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV using the CMS detector”, CMS Collaboration

SUSY - theory

For my PhD and Master thesis, I've worked on higher-order calculations in supersymmetric theories, in particular precision mass predictions and quantum corrections in the MSSM. This includes two-loop SUSY QCD and Yukawa corrections as well as some of the mre formal aspects of supersymmetric field theory.

• Nucl. Phys. B 798 (2008) 146, “Leading Yukawa corrections to the pole masses of SUSY fermions in the MSSM”, R. Schofbeck et al.
• Eur. Phys. J. C 53 (2008) 621, “Two-loop SUSY QCD corrections to the chargino masses in the MSSM”, R. Schofbeck et al.
• Phys. Lett. B 649 (2007) 67, “Two-loop SUSY QCD corrections to the neutralino masses in the MSSM”, R. Schofbeck et al.
• Phys. Lett. B 632 (2006) 145, “BPS saturation of the N=4 monopole by infinite composite-operator renormalization”, A. Rebhan et al.

Reports

• SciPost Phys. Commun. Rep. 4 (2024), “LHC EFT WG note: SMEFT predictions, event reweighting, and simulation”, R. Schoefbeck et al. (lead editor)
• CERN Yellow Rep. Monogr. 7 (2019) 1, “Report from Working Group 1: Standard Model Physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC”, P. Azzi et al.
• CERN Yellow Rep. Monogr. 7 (2019) 221, “Report from Working Group 2: Higgs Physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC”, M. Cepeda et al.
• arXiv:2002.02837, “Report on the ECFA Early-Career Researchers Debate on the 2020 European Strategy Update for Particle Physics”, A. Bethani et al.