Searching for Anomalies with Foundation Models

High Energy Physics - Experiment [Submitted on 24 Mar 2026 (v1), last revised 1 Jun 2026 (this version, v2)] Title:Searching for Anomalies with Foundation Models View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:Foundation models have the potential to extend the discovery reach for anomaly detection searches. When studying the large OmniLearned foundation model on data from the CMS experiment, unexpected behavior was observed in a mass sideband. The purpose of this paper is to perform a full analysis, including a complete background estimate, on the phase space picked out by the large model. We find that the background estimation describes the data well in validation regions, but is unable to accurately model the signal region. We invite further scrutiny of these events and our methods. Submission history From: Vinicius Mikuni [view email][v1] Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:00:00 UTC (2,320 KB) [v2] Mon, 1 Jun 2026 04:30:53 UTC (3,548 KB) Current browse context: hep-ex Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.