[Rivet] MC plots - Xi+/- and Omega+/- pt spectra

[Peter Skands]

Hi Andy,

> mcplots), so please do get in touch. Perhaps the mcplots team could also help
> out with implementing missing analyses which would improve the site?

Don't get me wrong, I'd like to do just that, except I don't actually have a 
"team". I am merely trying to get some slightly more useful work out of the 
LCG/GENSER people than what they might otherwise be doing, in which I think I've 
been marginally successful at least, and a few of them are probably at a stage 
now where they might be able to do some Rivet code (e.g., Anton, but he's so 
good I have much other stuff I want him to be doing too), but most of them are 
not. That's why I thought a project about setting up a technically advanced web 
site with underlying batch submission functionality was an ideal project for the 
kind of manpower I can access.

Nevertheless, the fact that people seeing mcplots is giving them an extra 
impetus to implement their analyses in Rivet *is* helping, I guess, if in an 
indirect way. Also, the feedback provided by Anton and others *has* also helped 
improve Rivet. I would do more if I could. I know the manpower issues you face, 
and if I can put my claws on someone that can help, I do. Continuity is an 
issue, though, since most of the LCG people are just passing through. In order 
to hold on to Anton for so long, I've had to be pretty creative, but so far it 
is working, I just secured another month for him from July to August. I've also 
been trying to make sure Witek Pokorski is learning a bit, in the hope that he 
can then transfer that knowledge to his "minions", so they can eventually start 
implementing new analyses on their own, but such things take time. Therefore, 
when third parties contact us about how to get their analyses onto mcplots, the 
road we give is HEPDATA -> Rivet -> mcplots, and I normally refer to you for the 
Rivet step. You are best equipped to point people to the most up-to-date 
tutorials and to answer any specific questions they might have. I also do it 
just to introduce them to you, so you get an overview of what people are doing, 
and so they know you are "real people".

However, there *are* some possibilities for us to take a more active and direct 
role in developing Rivet. I do have, through the LPCC, a limited money supply 
for people to spend time at cern to implement new analyses (or new generators). 
For instance, we just had Liza Mijovic from ATLAS spend a couple of weeks here 
implementing Alpgen, and Holger Schulz got his MCnet stay extended a bit using 
those funds. This money is somewhat less than an Mcnet studentship was, so I 
can't spend much time "training" people. Also since I am not very familiar with 
Rivet myself, there would be no point to me trying to teach people. But we could 
easily cross-coordinate, so that I fund and help someone directly over a period, 
with additional help on Rivet provided by one of you. That's definitely 
possible, so let me know if you hear of interesting cases we might handle in 
this way. Later, if MCnet gets funded, there will also be more possibilities 
through that. And of course there might show up through LCG more people like 
Anton. I'll *definitely* let you know if that happens, though you are likely to 
discover it automatically, when he begins submitting tarballed bug reports :)

Cheers,
Peter