From Lagrangians to Events: Computer Tutorial at the MC4BSM-2012 Workshop

TL;DR

This paper documents a tutorial demonstrating how to use various computational tools to go from a Lagrangian extension of the Standard Model to generating Monte Carlo event samples, covering practical implementation details.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, step-by-step tutorial on applying multiple software tools for particle physics model implementation and event generation from a Lagrangian.

Findings

Successfully specified a simple Standard Model extension.

Generated Feynman rules and matrix elements automatically.

Produced Monte Carlo event samples at various stages.

Abstract

This is a written account of the computer tutorial offered at the Sixth MC4BSM workshop at Cornell University, March 22-24, 2012. The tools covered during the tutorial include: FeynRules, LanHEP, MadGraph, CalcHEP, Pythia 8, Herwig++, and Sherpa. In the tutorial, we specify a simple extension of the Standard Model, at the level of a Lagrangian. The software tools are then used to automatically generate a set of Feynman rules, compute the invariant matrix element for a sample process, and generate both parton-level and fully hadronized/showered Monte Carlo event samples. The tutorial is designed to be self-paced, and detailed instructions for all steps are included in this write-up. Installation instructions for each tool on a variety of popular platforms are also provided.