Stelzer's MadGraph article, 9th most cited in HEP for 2014

1/27/2015 Siv Schwink

Associate Professor Timothy Stelzer's 2011 article "MadGraph 5: Going Beyond", published in the Journal of High Energy Physics [1106 (2011) 128] was cited 626 times last year making it the ninth most cited article in high-energy physics during 2014, according to INSPIRE-HEP, an open access digital library for the field of high-energy physics. The article introduces the upgraded capabilities of version 5 of MadGraph®, an online software program written by Stelzer and his collaborators.The 626 core references to this work over the course of last year are a clear reflection of just how valuable the MadGraph® digital modeling tool is to ongoing high energy physics research.

Written by Siv Schwink

Associate Professor Timothy Stelzer, author of the MadGraph matrix element generator for high-energy physics research
Associate Professor Timothy Stelzer, author of the MadGraph matrix element generator for high-energy physics research

Associate Professor Timothy Stelzer's 2011 article "MadGraph 5: Going Beyond", published in the Journal of High Energy Physics [1106 (2011) 128] was cited 626 times last year making it the ninth most cited article in high-energy physics during 2014, according to INSPIRE-HEP, an open access digital library for the field of high-energy physics. The article introduces the upgraded capabilities of version 5 of MadGraph®, an online software program written by Stelzer and his collaborators.

The matrix-element-generating software has had a broad and lasting impact. When it was first introduced in 1994, MadGraph® significantly simplified and expedited the way scientists studying high-energy particle collisions approach the work of calculating cross sections for high-energy collisions. The software automatically generates the Feynman diagrams and helicity amplitude code for tree-level standard model processes. It’s designed to be a platform for collaboration among high-energy physicists working on theoretical, phenomenological, or simulation projects.

Stelzer invited several colleagues to join him in developing subsequent versions of the program. Development of version 5 began in 2009 with Johan Alwall of Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia, IL, Michel Herquet of the National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NIKHEF) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Fabio Maltoni and Olivier Mattelaer of the CP3 at Louvain University in Belgium. Version 5 implemented several new algorithms for improved performance and functionality, to make the tool useful for a larger group of researchers.

The software allows researchers to generate the hard scattering process and its constituent decay processes separately, and to iteratively combine them, all with great speed. Advanced users can also use the software to implement new physics models by defining new particles and interactions.

Written in the Python programming language for its exceptional flexibility, MadGraph® is hosted by the University of Illinois and is accessible to any researchers, free of cost. The 626 core references to this work over the course of last year are a clear reflection of just how valuable the MadGraph® digital modeling tool is to ongoing high-energy physics research.



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This story was published January 27, 2015.