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The configuration file

Configuring modules

Different types of modules are available on MoMEMta, each designed to perform a specific task. Declaring an instance of a module named karl of type Gaussian in Lua is simple:

Gaussian.karl = {}

Each module can be configured by setting its parameters and its inputs:

Gaussian.karl = {}
Gaussian.friedrich = {
    -- Some fixed parameters
    age = 25,
    size = 1.75,
    place = "Gottingen",
    dead = true,
    -- Define inputs using other modules’ outputs
    input = "karl::output"
}

A parameter is strongly typed and can be an integer (eg.: 2), a floating point number, (eg.: 172.5, 13000. - note the decimal point must be present), a boolean (true or false) or a string (eg.: hello). Parameters might have default values and be optional, or be mandatory.

An input is set through a so-called "input tag" of the form other_module::its_output[/i], where other_module is the name of another module responsible for producing the quantity its_output, and /i has to be used when the produced quantity in question is a vector and only a specific entry of that vector is needed as input.

Some modules expect vectors of input tags, where the order of the entries may or may not matter. Vectors in Lua are easily declared:

-- Take first and third entry of vector output `output` of module `that_module`
inputs = { "that_module::output/1", "that_module::output/3" }

Accessing entries of previously defined vectors is also possible:

temp_vector = { "first", "second", "third" }
-- Use only { "first", "third" }:
my_inputs = { temp_vector[1], temp_vector[3] }

Warning

The indexing of Lua vectors or input tags starts at 1, not 0.

The use of some modules requires adding a dimension to the volume that is being integrated over. In other words, those modules need a component of the phase-space points to be specified as input. This is done using the function add_dimension(), which returns an input tag linking to a component of the phase-space point, and notifies MoMEMta to add an integration dimension.

The order in which the modules are declared in the script does not matter: MoMEMta automatically executes the modules in an order such that inputs are always well-defined (obviously, circular dependencies are forbidden). By default, modules whose outputs are not used by any other module, and modules whose inputs are not produced by any other modules are not executed.

A full list of modules available out-of-the-box, along with documentation about the modules' inputs, outputs and parameters, is available at MoMEMta's technical documentation.

Declaring input particles

Input particles are declared in the configuration file as:

local l_part1 = declare_input("part1") -- Give that input a name: "part1"

In C++, that input's 4-vector can then be passed through the computeWeights() function (see Calling MoMEMta) by defining a momemta::Particle object whose name attribute is the same as the one used in the configuration, e.g. momemta::Particle m_part1 { "part1", p1, 0 }.

The Lua object l_part1, via the reco_p4 attribute, contains the input tag needed to access the particle's 4-vector. For instance, defining a transfer function on the energy of part1 can be done as:

GaussianTransferFunctionOnEnergy.tf_part1 = {
  ps_point = add_dimension(), -- A transfer function integrates over a variable (the particle's energy), so we need a new dimension in the integrated volume
  reco_particle = l_part1.reco_p4, -- Pass the input tag corresponding to the experimentally reconstructed 4-vector of the particle, given to 'computeWeights()'
  sigma = 0.10, -- Take 10% resolution on the energy
  sigma_range = 5 -- Integrate from -5*sigma*E to +5*sigma*E
}

Since the transfer function integrates over the particle's energy, it generates new values for its energy. This defines a new, 'parton'-level 4-vector for part1, which can now be passed e.g. to a matrix element. In this example, the parton-level 4-vector can be accessed directly through the tf_part1::output input tag. It is also possible to register it with the l_part1 object:

l_part1.set_gen_p4("tf_part1::output")

When declaring further modules, instead of using tf_part1::output, it is now possible to use l_part1.gen_p4 to access the parton-level 4-vector, i.e. these are equivalent:

P4Printer.printer1 = { input = "tf_part1::output" }
P4Printer.printer2 = { input = l_part1.gen_p4 }

Note

If the function set_gen_p4() is not called, one has by default l_part1.gen_p4 = l_part1.reco_p4. For instance, if you don't use transfer functions there is no distinction needed between 'parton'- and 'reco'-level quantities.

The missing transverse energy 4-vector (passed optionally to computeWeights()) can be accessed directly through the met::p4 input tag.

Declaring the integrand

When the integration is fully configured, i.e. the final module computing the integrand value is defined, the integrand has to be registered with MoMEMta to be able to compute the integral. For instance, if the module called final_module with output output defines the integrand, one has to call:

integrand("final_module::output")

It is possible in MoMEMta to integrate multi-valued functions (caution: is only efficient if the components of the function are not too different). For two components, the integrand would then be declared as:

integrand("final_module_1::output", "final_module_2::output")

In this case, computeWeights() would return a vector with two entries, embedding the value of the integral and the corresponding uncertainty for each of the two components.