v5.0 Features The first change makes it impossible to read old mcfast output data files with new mcfast code; and vice versa! 1) Many common blocks and structures were modified to ensure that all data items are aligned on natural byte boundaries. This meant inserting padding in various places. The fix is necessary for Linux. One side effect of this is that output files are no longer forward/backwards compatible: old files must be read with v4_4 or earlier while new files must be read with v5_0 or higher. The hit_track structure was expanded to an additional DFLOAT 3-vector. This is needed to deal with pixels with an arbitrary orientation. Same side effect as above - so this was a natural time to do it. 2) Some unused commons were removed from the output DST. 3) The code which selects the number of background events which accompany the signal event was fixed. It was previously selecting too few events. 4) Many structural changes to the ftrk kalman filter code in order to make it easy to use outside of mcfast. MCFast users should see no changes. However people using the standalone kalman filter code must upgrade or stick with MCFast v4_4. 5) Forward tracking system now supports rotated chambers. Silicon strip planes implemented as siz_rect devices may also be rotated. See the geometry writeup for details. ******************************************************************************* v4.4 Features 1) Command files and geometry files now recognize tabs as whitespace. 2) Hooks are in place to use the absoft fortran compiler for Linux. The compiler is expected to be a product - see $MCFAST_DIR/ups/INSTALL_NOTE. 3) New calorimetry library. Add -lcalorimetry to your link library list after the -lshowering entry. 4) Changes and bug fixes in the showering and tracing libraries. 5) mdep has been improved ************************************************************************************* v4.3 Features 1) The kalman filter for ctk tracks is now working. The computation of residuals is not yet in. 2) Many small bug fixes. ************************************************************************************* v4.2 Features 1) Internal to the hit generation and the Kalman filter, strip detectors are handled separately from pixel detectors. This is necessary to avoid some convergence problems with the fit. In all other places strip detectors are still just pixel detectors in which there is only one pixel in one of the dimensions. 2) Silicon planes can be entered as individual tiles and/or as single planes. The tiled siz_rect pixel detectors now work correctly with a window type gap. 3) The Kalman filter works correctly with the siz_rect pixel detectors. ************************************************************************************* v4.0 Features 1) New tracing. The new tracing code is does a full simulation of multitple scattering and energy loss, even in a detector which has mixed central and forward elements. This is needed in order for multiple scattering and energy loss to be included in the generation of hits in a mixed detector. The new tracing code is written in c++. To create an executable with the new code: gmake TYPE="c++" To deselect the new code at run time, give the following command in the .cmd file: trace_integrated F 2) Along with the new tracing code, substantial improvements have been made in the algorithms to deposit shower energy in calorimeters and in non-instrumented absorbing materials. 3) When hits have been generated using multiple scattering, a kalman filter can be used to determined the reconstruced track parameters. This lays the groundwork for the simulation of errors in pattern recognition. This code is enabled by the command: use_kalman T The default is False. At present (July 3/98) the kalman filter works for the forward detectors but not for the central ones. This will be fixed shortly. ************************************************************************************* v2.6 Features 1) Tracing updates Updates to tracing to allow the option of including of multiple scattering, dedx and bremsstrahlung during the trace. By default, these options are turned OFF. If any of these options are enabled the tracing can only be done in planar or cylindrical geometries, and not in mixed geometries. These "non-ideal" traces generated by any of these options can be used for hit based studies. They are not also not compatible with fctl_offline that is provided in v2_6 of MCFast. This feature will be available in v3_0 of MCFast. Forward tracking disks are included in the geometry structures, but not yet used in fctl_offline. 2) Calorimeter and Absorber Updates Absorbers and calorimeters can now be box shaped as well as cylindrical. Absorbers are now treated as calorimeters without hit generation. That is, showers can be generated inside absorbers. The number of layers in each calorimeter is now required in the db file. Be sure to update your geometry.db files! ************************************************************************************* V2.5 Features Modifications and bug fixes to tracing, tracking and hit making routines. Modifiations to calorimeters and calorimeter hit generation. stable.dec is now defaults to $MCFAST_DIR/examples/mcfast ************************************************************************************* V2.4 Features P. McBride 6/1/96 Tracking for forward detectors and central detectors is supported. Supported Geometries: CENTRAL: Tracking devices with Cylindrical symmetries barrel silicon Central Drift Chambers Cylindrical Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact P. McBride, P. Avery FORWARD: Planar Tracking devices (perp. to Z axis) xy planar silicon forward tracking chambers Box Shaped Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact K. Sterner, M. Procario CALORIMETERS: EM showers and hadronic showers in EM calorimeters implemented -- contact J. Yarba VERTEX ROUTINES: in solenoid, dipole (x or y field) and no field -- contact A. Boehnlein DBIN: input files -- contact J. Yarba, T. Wenaus, P. McBride Combined Cylindrical and Planar Geometries are now available. ************************************************************************************* V2.3 Features P. McBride 4/11/96 Tracking for forward detectors and central detectors is supported. Supported Geometries: CENTRAL: Tracking devices with Cylindrical symmetries barrel silicon Central Drift Chambers Cylindrical Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact P. McBride, P. Avery FORWARD: Planar Tracking devices (perp. to Z axis) xy planar silicon forward tracking chambers Box Shaped Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact K. Sterner, M. Procario CALORIMETERS: EM showers in EM calorimeters implemented Hadronic showers will be available in the next version Clustering available in next release -- contact J. Yarba VERTEX ROUTINES: in solenoid and no field -- contact A. Boehnlein DBIN: input files -- contact J. Yarba, T. Wenaus, P. McBride Combined Cylindrical and Planar Geometries are now available. ************************************************************************************* V2.0 Features P. McBride 4/6/95 Tracking for forward detectors and central detectors is supported. The forward tracking is a new feature and central tracking and tracing have been completely changed since v1.4.1. Supported Geometries: CENTRAL: Tracking devices with Cylindrical symmetries barrel silicon Central Drift Chambers Cylindrical Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact P. McBride, P. Avery FORWARD: Planar Tracking devices (perp. to Z axis) xy planar silicon forward tracking chambers Box Shaped Volumes and boundaries for scattering material -- contact K. Sterner, M. Procario Combined Cylindrical and Planar Geometries will be available with the next version. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Command file Commands that are accepted: max_event 0 ! number of events to be processed max_print 0 ! number of STDHEP events to be printed file_geometry file.geo ! geometry file file_in file.evt or @file.fil ! data file or file containing list of data files background_in back.evt ! background data file(s) file_out file.out ! name of output files ranseed 0 0 ! random number seed -- get from time of day: 0 0 ! -- or input two integers: 200 12 int_crossing ! number of interactions per crossing generate_internal ! generate particles internally end generate fcon R ! user defined -- real icon I ! user defined -- integer luminosity 1.E32 ! luminosity -- not currently used runtime 1.E7 ! run time -- not currently used trigger ! input trigger commands -- end trigger ! see ~mcfast/doc/mcfast_trigger.doc dbg_trace subsytem F ! debug trace flag dbg_hist subsytem F ! debug histogram flag make_decays T ! generate decays in flight make_pair_convert T ! generate pair conversions make_hits T ! make hits -- default ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Geometry input There have been major changes to the geometry files since v1.4.1: PLEASE USE geometry files in ~bphyslib/test/example and READ the comments at the top of the files. -- contact J. Yarba ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vertex routines To use the fitting routines, the user fills the track_kine bank (~bphyslib/test/inc/track_kine.inc) with tracks (either from offline tracks or HEP tracks) and calls the fitting routines. Source exists in ~bphyslib/mcfast/v2.0/src/vertex See ~bphyslib/v2.0/doc/vertex.doc -- contact A. Boehnlein, P. Avery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Machine independent Input and Output of structures -- contact P. Lebrun/A. Boehnlein Switches have been added to MCFAST to enable the input of MCFIO events from the framework as well as to initialize and close MCFIO output files. This implementation only uses the STDHEP common for input and output and only opens a single stream for output. The MCFIO package is much more comprehensive than is currently represented in MCFAST. For documention on the MCFIO package see "MCFio: A machine independent i/o system for Monte-Carlo studies", P. Lebrun. For output: in your .CMD file, add the following command: mcfio_out my_output_filename This will alert MCFAST to open the file expecting one block. Currently, MCFAST does not handle the actual writing out of events expecting instead that the user would prefer to output the events conditionally. A usable example of writing out the events can be found in the routine ~bphyslib/mcfast/dev/src/user/usr_mcfio_out.F This routine is used in the following way and will output the STDHEP block. if(condition.and.mcfio_out) then call usr_mcfio_out endif The file will automatically be closed at the end of the job. For input: for signal files: in your .CMD file add the following lines file_type 1 file_in my_input_filename OR file_in @my_filelist.fil The file_type command alerts MCFAST to expect MCFIO input (file_type 0 is for STDHEP standard input and is the default). Remember to turn off vertex smearing in the .GEO file if you are using as input a file written from MCFAST. Additionally, if tracking will be re-done on the events, remember to turn off conversions and decays in your .CMD file: make_pair_convert false make_decay false For background files: background_type 1 background_in my_background_filename background_in @my_background_list.fil