News

On this page, we attempt to give a chronological account of significant updates to the mcplots site, in particular

Links to more complete lists of changes (provided directly from SVN) are also made available.

2018/TODO/TODO - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

Full list of changes (TODO)

2017/12/05 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Rivet 2.4.0
  • The plotting tool has been updated, to correct labeling on several plots and introduce a revised design template with a slightly wider overall aspect ratio (to fit better on slides), the main and ratio panes now touching each other and thus enlarging the total data display area despite reducing the height, and the black top bar replaced by ordinary black-on-white text. Note also that the ratio pane is now using a logarithmic axis centred on the range [0.5, 2] with a bit of margin on either side.
Full list of changes (#2016 - #2094)

2015/12/08 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Epos 1.99 / CRMC 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5.3 and 1.5.4, Pythia 8.209, 8.210 and 8.212, Sherpa 2.2.0, Vincia 1.2.00, 1.2.01 and 1.2.02
  • Rivet 2.3.0
Full list of changes (#1942 - #2015)

2015/05/28 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Herwig++ 2.7.0 and 2.7.1, Pythia 8.186, 8.201 and 8.205, Vincia 1.1.01, 1.1.02 and 1.1.03
  • Updated design of the Generators Versions and 'Custom' Generator Group pages to have better overview of versions and tunes available on the site.
Full list of changes (#1809 - #1941)

2015/02/23 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Pythia 6.428, Pythia 8.180, 8.183 and 8.185, Sherpa 1.4.5, 2.1.0 and 2.1.1
  • Rivet 1.9.0
  • Updated to LHAPDF 5.8.9 / 5.9.1, FastJet 3.0.3, HepMC 2.06.08
Full list of changes (#1718 - #1808)

2014/01/15 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Herwig++ 2.6.2 and 2.6.3, Pythia 8.175 and 8.176, Sherpa 1.4.2 and 1.4.3, Vincia 1.1.00
  • New analyses:
  • Temporary removed bottom quark analyses due to issues with generators steering cards. To be re-added in the next release.
  • Expanded validation framework to include new "Tuning Validation" page, on which the chi2 values of different tunes of each generator are compared to each other. (We still choose not to show any direct comparisons between different generators, as the interpretation of such comparisons is more involved and the simple compound chi2 we calculate here could potentially be misleading.)
  • Rivet 1.8.3. Thanks to Test4Theory volunteer Crystal Pellet for alerting us to the new version.
  • Corrected bugs for Herwig++ W+jets and Phojet ppbar runs. Thanks to Test4Theory volunteers Crystal Pellet and Ray Murray for helping us track this down.
  • Updated Test4Theory for compatibility with Scientific Linux 6.
  • Updated and reorganized tune groups. New tab dedicated to Soft-Inclusive MCs (generators specializing in diffraction, min-bias, etc).
  • Updated plotter. Improved y axis ranges for plots with large uncertainties. Reduced risk of plot points being hidden under legends.
  • Included a Facebook "like" button, currently as an experimental social feature, to be kept or removed in the future.
  • Removed Pythia 8.157 (deemed obsolete).
  • Reduced number of tune variations available for the oldest versions of Pythia 6 and 8.
Full list of changes (#1482 - #1717)

2013/02/07 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

Full list of changes (#1223 - #1481)

2012/04/09 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

Full list of changes (#994 - #1222)

2011/12/08 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Herwig++ 2.5.2, Pythia 6.426, Pythia 8.157, Vincia 1.0.27
  • Added version 3 of Herwig++ colour reconnection tunes.
  • Rivet 1.7.0
Full list of changes (#952 - #993)

2011/11/11 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Fixed incorrect modification of Sherpa jets steering files.
  • Added 'analysis filter' with possibillity to display plots from specific Rivet analysis.
Full list of changes (#931 - #951)

2011/10/07 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

Full list of changes (#757 - #930)

2011/07/27 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

Full list of changes (#665 - #756)

2011/06/07 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Sherpa 1.3.0, Pythia 6.425, Pythia 8.150
  • New tunes: Herwig++ MU900-1; Pythia 6 Perugia 2011; Sherpa: removed explicit alphaS definition from run cards.
  • Several LEP distributions and moments (OPAL_2004_S6132243), including energy scaling beyond 91 GeV (contributed by S. Prestel and W. Pokorski)
  • Removed OPAL four-jet angles (OPAL_2001_S4553896) since the measurements were corrected to parton level and it is not clear how to compare arbitrary generators to them
  • Rivet 1.5.1
  • Reorganized tune groups to a two-tier structure, with top group selecting generator (or main) and subgroups selecting more finegrained within that group (e.g. groups of tunes for a single generator)
  • Reorganized and renamed some LEP observables to make their order more intuitive.
  • Minor updates to plotting tool to make sure axis ticks always visible in ratio plots and a few other minor cosmetics fixes
Full list of changes (#442 - #664)

2011/03/20 - MCPLOTS public release

Includes:

  • Herwig++ 2.5.0, Vincia 1.0.25 and 1.0.24
  • First LHC measurements at 7 TeV
  • Dedicated ee identified-particle measurements from ALEPH
  • b fragmentation measurements from DELPHI
  • Rivet 1.5.0
  • New functionality to select alternative generator versions (written by A. Pytel)
Full list of changes (#268 - #441)

2010, December - first public release

Includes:

  • Herwig++ 2.4.2, Pythia 6.424 and 6.423, Pythia 8.145 and 8.142, Sherpa 1.2.3 and 1.2.2p
  • Rivet 1.4.0
Full list of changes (#1 - #267)

2010, November - starting alpha-testing of Test4Theory project

2010, August - first prototypes of web pages

2010, Summer - MCPLOTS project started