Chapter 6
Input file configuration
6.1 Run-time input file parameters
MCFM execution is performed in the Bin/ directory, with syntax:
mcfm input.ini
If no command line options are given, then MCFM will default to using the file input.ini in the
current directory for choosing options. The input.ini
file can be in any directory and then
the first argument to mcfm
should be the location of the file. Furthermore, one can
overwrite or append single configuration options with additional parameters like:
./mcfm benchmark/input.ini -general%part=nlo -lhapdf%dopdferrors=.true.
Here specifying a parameter uses a single dash, then the section name as in the input file (see below), followed by a percent sign, followed by the option name, followed by an equal sign and the actual value of the setting.
All default settings in the input file are explained below, as well as further optional
parameters. The top level setting mcfm_version
specifies the input file version number and it
must match the version of the code being used.
The general structure of a fixed-order calculation up to NNLO is as follows:
(6.1) |
where is of order with respect to the leading order cross section , thus representing the NLO contribution to the cross section. When performing the NLO calculation using dipole subtraction its contribution to the cross section can be decomposed as,
(6.2) |
includes virtual (loop) contributions, as well as counterterms that render them finite. includes contributions from diagrams involving real parton emission, again with counterterms to make them finite. Only the sum of and is physical.
This contribution can also be computed using a slicing method with the corresponding decomposition,
(6.3) |
labels the slicing resolution variable, which in MCFM can be either 0-jettiness, (of a color-singlet system) or (lead jet ) (thus corresponding to a jet veto). is termed the below-cut slicing contribution which is computed by the means of a factorization theorem and includes loop contributions. is the above-cut contribution containing radiation of an additional parton. Only the sum is physical and contains a dependence on the slicing resolution variable that tends to zero as
At NNLO only slicing calculations are available. The decomposition is,
(6.4) |
is the below-cut slicing contribution containing 2-loop contributions. is the above-cut contribution containing loop corrections to radiation of an additional parton. is the above-cut contribution representing radiation of up to two additional partons. Only the sum is physical and contains a dependence on the slicing resolution variable that tends to zero as
The type of computation that is performed depends on the parameter part
in the
general
section. The list of possible values, and the associated meaning, is shown in
Tables 6.1 and 6.2. They can also be listed by setting part
equal to help in the input
file
.
part that correspond
to performing a fixed-order calculation. | |
|
description |
lo/lord |
|
virt |
|
real |
|
nlocoeff/totacoeff |
|
nlo/tota |
. For photon processes that include fragmentation, nlo also includes the calculation of the fragmentation (frag) contributions. |
frag |
Processes 280, 285, 290, 295, 300-302, 305-307, 820-823 only, see sections 13.67, 13.72 and 13.73 below. |
nlodk/todk |
Processes 114, 161, 166, 171, 176, 181, 186, 141, 146, 149, 233, 238, 501, 511 only, see sections 13.39 and 13.41 below. |
snloR |
|
snloV |
|
snlocoeff/scetnlocoeff |
|
snlo/scetnlo |
|
nnloVVcoeff |
|
nnloRVcoeff |
|
nnloRRcoeff |
|
nnloVV |
|
nnloRV |
|
nnloRR |
|
nnlocoeff |
|
nnlo |
|
|
|
|
|
part that correspond
to performing a calculation including large-log resummation. | |
|
description |
resLO |
NLL resummed and matched |
resonlyLO |
NLL resummed only |
resonlyLOp |
NLLp resummed only |
resexpNLO |
NNLL resummed expanded to NLO |
resonlyNLO |
NNLL resummed |
resaboveNLO |
fixed-order matching to NLO |
resmatchcorrNLO |
matching corrections at NLO |
resonlyNLOp |
NNLLp resummed |
resexpNNLO |
NLL resummed expanded to NNLO |
resonlyNNLO |
NLL resummed |
resaboveNNLO |
fixed-order matching to NLO |
resmatchcorrNNLO |
matching corrections at NLO |
resLOp |
NLLp resummed and matched |
resNLO |
NNLL resummed, matched to NLO |
resNLOp |
NLL resummed, matched to NLO |
resNNLO |
NLL resummed, matched to NNLO |
resNNLOp |
NLLp resummed, matched to NNLO |
resonlyNNLOp |
NLLp resummed |
|
|
|
|
6.1.1 General
Section general | Description
|
|
The process to be studied is given by choosing a process number, according to Tables in Section 4. denotes a generic partonic jet. Processes denoted as “LO” may only be calculated in the Born approximation. For photon processes, “NLO+F” signifies that the calculation may be performed both at NLO and also including the effects of photon fragmentation and experimental isolation. In contrast, “NLO” for a process involving photons means that no fragmentation contributions are included and isolation is performed according to the procedure of Frixione [55]. |
|
The type of calculation to be performed. Possible values are given in Tables 6.1 and 6.2. |
|
When MCFM is run, it will write output to several files. The label runstring will be included in the names of these files. |
|
Directory for output and snapshot files |
|
Center of mass energy in GeV. |
|
The identities of the incoming hadrons may be set with these parameters, allowing simulations for both (such as the Tevatron) and (such as the LHC). Setting ih1 equal to corresponds to a proton, whilst corresponds to an anti-proton. |
|
When set to .true. then all bosons are produced on-shell. This is appropriate for calculations of total cross-sections (such as when using removebr equal to .true., below). When interested in decay products of the bosons this should be set to .false.. |
|
When set to .true. the branching ratios are removed for unstable particles such as vector bosons or top quarks. See the process notes in Section 13, or the process web-pages accessed via the list of processes for further details. |
|
Specifies whether or not to compute EW corrections for the process. Default is none. May be set to exact or sudakov for processes 31 (neutral-current DY), 157 (top-pair production) and 190 (di-jet production). For more details see section 5.3. |
|
|
|
|
6.1.2 Resummation
Section resummation | Description
|
|
If
|
|
|
|
Output
directory
for
LHAPDF
grid
files,
for
example
|
|
Input
directory
for
LHAPDF
grid
files,
for
example
|
|
Integration
range
of
purely
resummed
part,
for
example
|
|
Integration
range
of
fixed-order
expanded
resummed
part,
for
example
|
|
Lower
cutoff
for
the
fixed-order
part.
Typically
the
value
should
agree
with
the
lower
range
of
|
|
Parameter passed to the plotting routine to modify the transition function, see text. |
|
|
|
|
6.1.3 NNLO
Section nnlo | Description
| ||
|
Optional. This sets the value of the jettiness variable , as a multiple of the invariant mass of the Born system, i.e.
This variable separates the resolved and unresolved regions in NNLO calculations that use zero-jettiness. The default value results in total inclusive cross sections with less than residual cutoff effects. |
||
|
Optional. Array that specifies multiple taucut values that should be sampled
on the fly in addition to the nominal taucut value. Both larger and smaller
values than the nominal one can be specified, although uncertainties for
smaller values will be large. We generally do not recommend smaller values
than the nominal one chosen with |
||
|
Optional. If |
||
|
Flag to use
slicing, rather than 0-jettiness, in the calculation of NNLO contributions.
Default is |
||
|
If |
||
|
If |
||
|
When using 0-jettiness, perform the slicing cut in the centre-of-mass of the
color singlet system. Default is |
||
|
When using 0-jettiness, include leading power corrections in the below-cut
calculation. Default is |
||
|
When using 0-jettiness, only compute the power corrections to the below-cut
calculation. Default is |
||
|
This flag has two separate uses. In a fixed-order sliciing calculation, e.g. part
is equal to snlo or nnlo, the code uses
slicing, rather than 0-jettiness, in the calculation of higher-order contributions.
In a resummed calculation, e.g. part is equal to resNLO or resNNLO, it enables
the use of
resummation rather that
resummation. In this case the value of the jet veto ( |
||
|
Implements
formalism using the refactorized approach of Ref. [58]. Otherwise uses original
‘’
factorization of below-cut cross-section into beam and soft functions (that
gives identical results). Default is |
||
|
|||
|
|||
6.1.4 PDFs
Section pdf | Description
|
|
This specifies the parton distributions used in the case when the code has been
built with |
|
|
|
|
6.1.5 LHAPDF
Section lhapdf | Description
|
|
Specifies the parton distributions used in the case when the code has been built
with |
|
Specifies the individual members of the parton distribution sets. A value of zero corresponds to the central value for Hessian sets. In the case when multiple sets have been specified above, each one needs a member number separated by space. |
|
When this is set to |
|
|
|
|
6.1.6 Scales
Section scales | Description
| ||||
|
This parameter may be used to adjust the value of the renormalization scale. This is the scale at which is evaluated and will typically be set to a mass scale appropriate to the process (, , for instance). |
||||
|
This parameter may be used to adjust the value of the factorization scale and will typically be set to a mass scale appropriate to the process (, , for instance). |
||||
|
This character string is used to specify whether the renormalization,
factorization and fragmentation scales are dynamic, i.e. recalculated on an
event-by-event basis. If this string is set to ‘none’ then the scales are fixed
for all events at the values specified by renscale, facscale as well as
The type of dynamic scale to be used is selected by using a particular string for the variable dynamicscale, as indicated in Table 6.10. Not all scales are defined for each process, with program execution halted if an invalid selection is made in the input file. The selection chooses a reference scale, . The actual scales used in the code are then,
Note that, for simplicity, the fragmentation scale (relevant only for processes involving photons) is set equal to the renormalization scale. In some cases it is possible for the dynamic scale to become very large. This can cause problems with the interpolation of data tables for the PDFs and fragmentation functions. As a result if a dynamic scale exceeds a maximum of TeV (PDF) or GeV (fragmentation) this value is set by default to the maximum. |
||||
|
This additional option can be set to
The histograms corresponding to these different choices are included in the output file, from which an envelope of theoretical uncertainty may be constructed by the user. |
||||
|
Number of additional scale variation points to choose, can be set to two or six. For two it just samples the first two variations as in Eq. 6.7. |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
dynamic scale | comments | |
m(34) | ||
m(345) | ||
m(3456) | ||
sqrt(M^ 2+pt34^ 2) | mass of particle 3+4 | |
sqrt(M^ 2+pt345^ 2) | mass of particle 3+4+5 | |
sqrt(M^ 2+pt5^ 2) | mass of particle 3+4 | |
sqrt(M^ 2+ptj1^ 2) | mass(3+4), leading jet | |
pt(photon) | ||
pt(j1) | ||
HT | particles (partons, not jets) | |
6.1.7 Masses
Section masses | Description
|
|
Higgs pole mass |
|
Top-quark pole mass |
|
Bottom-quark pole mass |
|
Charm-quark pole mass |
|
W-boson pole mass |
|
Z-boson pole mass |
|
|
|
|
6.1.8 Basic jets
Section basicjets | Description
| ||
|
This logical parameter chooses whether the calculated cross-section should be inclusive in the number of jets found at NLO. An exclusive cross-section contains the same number of jets at next-to-leading order as at leading order. An inclusive cross-section may instead contain an extra jet at NLO. |
||
|
This specifies the jet-finding algorithm that is used, and can take the values ktal (for the Run II -algorithm), ankt (for the “anti-” algorithm [59]), cone (for a midpoint cone algorithm), hqrk (for a simplified cone algorithm designed for heavy quark processes) and none (to specify no jet clustering at all). The latter option is only a sensible choice when the leading order cross-section is well-defined without any jet definition: e.g. the single top process, , which is finite as . |
||
|
These specify the values of and for the jets that are found by the algorithm. |
||
|
Optional parameter for setting a minimum jet rapidity . |
||
|
Optional parameter for setting maximum jet |
||
|
If the final state of the chosen process contains either quarks or gluons then for each event an attempt will be made to form them into jets. For this it is necessary to define the jet separation
so that after jet combination, all jet pairs are separated by Rcutjet. |
||
|
Optional parameter for using jet rapidity rather than pseudorapidity when performing jet cuts. Default is .true.. |
||
|
|||
|
|||
6.1.9 Mass cuts
Section masscuts | Description
|
m34min, m34max, m56min, m56max, m3456min, m3456max |
These parameters represent a basic set of mass cuts that are be applied to the calculated cross-section. The only events that contribute to the cross-section will have, for example, m34min m34 m34max where m34 is the invariant mass of particles 3 and 4 that are specified by nproc. m34min is obligatory for processes which can involve a virtual photon, such as nproc=31. By default, the maximum settings are set to . |
|
|
|
|
6.1.10 Cuts
Section cuts | Description
|
|
If this parameter is set to .false., then no additional cuts are applied to the events (apart from those in Sections 6.1.8 and 6.1.9) and the remaining parameters in this section are ignored. Otherwise, events will be rejected according to a set of cuts that is specified below. Further options may be implemented by editing src/User/gencuts_user.f90. |
ptleptmin, etaleptmax |
These specify the values of
and
for one of the leptons produced in the process. One can also introduce optional
settings |
etaleptveto |
This should be specified as a pair of double precision numbers that indicate a rapidity range that should be excluded for the lepton that passes the above cuts. |
ptminmiss |
Specifies the minimum missing transverse momentum (coming from neutrinos). |
ptlept2min,
|
These specify the values of
and
for the remaining leptons in the process. This allows for staggered cuts where,
for instance, only one lepton is required to be hard and central. One can also
introduce optional settings |
etalept2veto |
This should be specified as a pair of double precision numbers (separated by a space) that indicate a rapidity range that should be excluded for the remaining leptons. |
|
|
|
|
6.1.11 Cuts (continued)
Section cuts | Description
| ||||||||||
m34transmin |
For general processes, this specifies the minimum transverse mass of particles 3 and 4,
For the process the role of this cut changes, to become instead a cut on the transverse cluster mass of the system,
For the process this parameter specifies a simple invariant mass cut,
A final mode of operation applies to the
process and is triggered by a negative value of
In each case the screen output indicates the cut that is applied. |
||||||||||
Rjlmin |
Using the definition of given above in Eq.6.8), requires that all jet-lepton pairs are separated by R(jet,lept)_min. |
||||||||||
Rllmin |
When non-zero, all lepton-lepton pairs must be separated by R(lept,lept)_min. |
||||||||||
delyjjmin |
This enforces a rapidity gap between the two hardest jets and , so that: delyjjmin. |
||||||||||
jetsopphem |
If this parameter is set to .true., then the two hardest jets are required to lie in opposite hemispheres, . |
||||||||||
lbjscheme |
This integer parameter provides no additional cuts when it takes the value 0. When equal to 1 or 2, leptons are required to lie between the two hardest jets. With the ordering for the rapidities of jets and : lbjscheme = 1 : ; lbjscheme = 2 : RcutjetRcutjet. |
||||||||||
ptbjetmin, etabjetmax |
If a process involving -quarks
is being calculated, then these can be used to specify stricter values of
and
for -jets.
Similarly, values for |
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
6.1.12 Photon
Note that all the photon cuts specified in this section of the input file, are applied even if makecuts is set to .false..
Section photon | Description
| ||||
fragmentation |
This parameter is a logical variable that determines whether the production of photons by a parton fragmentation process is included. If fragmentation is set to .true., the code uses a standard cone isolation procedure (that includes LO fragmentation contributions in the NLO calculation). If fragmentation is set to .false., the code implements a Frixione-style photon cut [55],
In this equation, , and are defined by cone_ang, epsilon_h and n_pow respectively (see below). is the transverse energy of a parton, is the transverse energy of the photon and is the separation between the photon and the parton using the usual definition
is an integer parameter which by default is set to 1. |
||||
fragmentation_set |
A length eight character variable that is used to choose the particular photon fragmentation set. Currently implemented fragmentation functions can be called with ‘BFGSet_I’, ‘BFGSetII’ [60] or ‘GdRG__LO’ [61]. |
||||
fragmentation_scale |
A double precision variable that will be used to choose the scale at which the photon fragmentation is evaluated. |
||||
gammptmin |
This specifies the value of
for the photon with the largest transverse momentum. Note that this cut,
together with all the photon cuts specified in this section of the input file, are
applied even if makecuts is set to .false.. One can also add an entry for
|
||||
gammrapmax |
This specifies the value of
for any photons produced in the process. One can also add an entry for
|
||||
gammpt2, gammpt3 |
The values of for the second and third photons, ordered by . |
||||
Rgalmin |
Using the usual definition of above, this requires that all photon-lepton pairs are separated by Rgalmin. This parameter must be non-zero for processes in which photon radiation from leptons is included. |
||||
Rgagamin |
Using the usual definition of above, this requires that all photon pairs are separated by Rgagamin. |
||||
Rgajetmin |
Using the usual definition of above, this requires that all photon-jet pairs are separated by Rgajetmin. |
||||
cone_ang |
Fixes the cone size () for photon isolation. This cone is used in both forms of isolation. |
||||
epsilon_h |
This cut controls the amount of radiation allowed in cone when fragmentation is set to .true.. If epsilon_h then the photon is isolated using Otherwise epsilon_h sets in . |
||||
n_pow |
When using the Frixione isolation prescription, the exponent in Eq. (6.13). |
||||
fixed_coneenergy |
This is only operational when using the Frixione isolation prescription. If fixed_coneenergy is .false. then controls the amount of hadronic energy allowed inside the cone using the Frixione isolation prescription (see above, Eq. (6.13)) If fixed_coneenergy is .true. then this formula is replaced by one where . |
||||
hybrid, R_inner |
If hybrid is set to .true. use a hybrid isolation scheme with Frixione isolation on an inner cone of radius R_inner. |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
6.1.13 Histograms
Section histogram | Description
|
|
Write output histograms suitable as input for top-drawer. |
|
Write output histograms as whitespace-separated columns. |
|
Use the new plotting infrastructure introduced in MCFM-10.0 |
|
|
|
|
6.1.14 Imtegration
Section integration | Description
|
|
When |
|
Initialization seed for MT19937 pseudo random number generator. |
|
Relative precision goal for the integration. |
|
When |
|
When |
|
Sets the relative precision goal for the warmup run. Unless this precision is reached, the number of calls for the warmup is increased. |
|
Sets the per iteration goal for the warmup run. Unless the of the warmup is below this target, the number of calls for the warmup is increased. |
|
|
|
|
6.2 Process specific options
6.2.1 Single Top
Section singletop | Description
|
|
Sets real Wilson coefficient of for processes 164 and 169. See 13.40 and ref. [33]. |
|
Sets real and imaginary part of the Wilson coefficient. |
|
Sets real and imaginary part of the Wilson coefficient. |
|
Sets real and imaginary part of the Wilson coefficient. |
|
Sets real and imaginary part of the Wilson coefficient. |
|
Sets real and imaginary part of the Wilson coefficient. |
| |
|
Enable contributions of order
when set to |
|
When set to |
|
When set to |
|
At NNLO there are several different contributions from vertex
corrections on the light-quark line, heavy-quark line in production,
and heavy-quark line in the top-quark decay. Additionally there
are one-loop times one-loop interference contributions between all
three contributions. For a fully inclusive calculation without decay
|
|
|
|
|
6.2.2 Anomalous couplings
Section anom_wz | Description
|
enable |
Boolean flag to enable anomalous W-boson and Z-boson coupling contributions for certain processes. False has the same effect as setting all anomalous couplings to zero, but additionally skips computation of anomalous coupling code parts. |
|
|
delg1_z |
See section 13.24. |
delk_z |
See section 13.24. |
delk_g | |
lambda_z |
See section 13.24. |
lambda_g | |
|
|
h1Z |
Anomalous couplings for process at NNLO. See section 13.73. |
h1gam |
See section 13.73. |
h2Z |
See section 13.73. |
h2gam |
See section 13.73. |
h3Z |
See section 13.73. |
h3gam |
See section 13.73. |
h4Z |
See section 13.73. |
h4gam |
See section 13.73. |
|
|
tevscale |
Form-factor scale, in TeV See section 13.24. No form-factors are applied to the anomalous couplings if this value is negative. |
|
|
|
|
6.2.3 +2 jets
Section wz2jet | Description
|
|
This only has an effect when running a jets or jets process. When .true., it includes the effect of four-quark processes. Please see section 13.10 below. |
|
This only has an effect when running a jets or jets process. When .true., it includes the effect of two-quark, two-gluon processes. Please see section 13.10 below. |
|
|
|
|
6.2.4 H jetmass
Section hjetmass | Description
|
mtex |
Sets the order of the expansion for virtual corrections in the jet process 200. See section 13.43. |
|
|
|
|
6.2.5 Anomalous couplings
Section anom_higgs | Description
|
hwidth_ratio |
For processes 123–126, 128–133 only, this variable provides a rescaling of the width of the Higgs boson. Couplings are rescaled such that the corresponding cross section close to the Higgs boson peak is unchanged. Further details of this procedure are given in arXiv:1311.3589. |
|
See arXiv:1311.3589. |
|
|
|
|
6.2.6 Extra
Section extra | Description
|
debug |
A logical variable which can be used during a debugging phase to mandate special behaviours. Passed by common block common/debug/debug. |
verbose |
A logical variable which can be used during a debugging phase to write special information. Passed in common block common/verbose/verbose. |
new_pspace |
A logical variable which can be used during a debugging phase to test alternative versions of the phase space. Passed in common block common/new_pspace/new_pspace. |
spira |
A logical variable. If spira is |
noglue |
A logical variable. The default value is |
ggonly |
A logical variable. The default value is |
gqonly |
A logical variable. The default value is |
omitgg |
A logical variable. The default value is |
clustering |
This logical parameter determines whether clustering is performed to yield jets.
Only during a debugging phase should this variable be set to |
colourchoice |
If colourchoice=0, all colour structures are included ( jets). If colourchoice=1, only the leading colour structure is included ( jets). |
rtsmin |
A minimum value of , which ensures that the invariant mass of the incoming partons can never be less than rtsmin. |
|
Flag to set the use of the user-implemented reweighting procedure
|
|
|
|
|
6.2.7 Dipoles
Section dipoles | Description
|
aii |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of initial-initial dipoles as suggested by Trocsanyi and Nagy [63]. The value aii=1 corresponds to standard Catani-Seymour subtraction. |
aif |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of initial-final dipoles as suggested by Trocsanyi and Nagy [63]. The value afi=1 corresponds to standard Catani-Seymour subtraction. |
afi |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of final-initial dipoles as suggested by Trocsanyi and Nagy [63]. The value afi=1 corresponds to standard Catani-Seymour subtraction. |
aff |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of final-final dipoles as suggested by Trocsanyi and Nagy [63]. The value aff=1 corresponds to standard Catani-Seymour subtraction. |
bfi |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of final-initial dipoles in the photon fragmentation case. |
bff |
A double precision variable which can be used to limit the kinematic range for the subtraction of final-final dipoles in the photon fragmentation case. |
|
|
|
|