HepData reloaded: reinventing the HEP data archive

TL;DR

HepData has been significantly re-engineered using modern technologies to serve as a flexible, semantic, web-accessible data archive for high-energy physics, supporting LHC data needs and Monte Carlo validation.

Contribution

This paper introduces a major redevelopment of the HepData database system, enhancing its flexibility, semantic data representation, and web interface for LHC-era data management.

Findings

Enhanced data flexibility and semantic representation

Improved web interface for data access

Supports Monte Carlo validation and tuning

Abstract

We describe the status of the HepData database system, following a major re-development in time for the advent of LHC data. The new HepData system benefits from use of modern database and programming language technologies, as well as a variety of high-quality tools for interfacing the data sources and their presentation, primarily via the Web. The new back-end provides much more flexible and semantic data representations than before, on which new external applications can be built to respond to the data demands of the LHC experimental era. The HepData re-development was largely motivated by a desire to have a single source of reference data for Monte Carlo validation and tuning tools, whose status and connection to HepData we also briefly review.