GR@PPA 2.7 event generator for pppp/ppˉp\bar{p} collisions

The GR@PPA event generator has been updated to version 2.7. This distribution provides event generators for $V$ ($W$ or $Z$) + jets ($\leq$ 4 jets), $VV$ + jets ($\leq$ 2 jets) and QCD multi-jet ($\leq$ 4 jets) production processes at $pp$ and $p\bar{p}$ collisions, in addition to the four bottom quark productions implemented in our previous work (GR@PPA\_4b). Also included are the top-pair and top-pair + jet production processes, where the correlation between the decay products are fully reproduced at the tree level. Namely, processes up to seven-body productions can be simulated, based on ordinary Feynman diagram calculations at the tree level. In this version, the GR@PPA framework and the process dependent matrix-element routines are separately provided. This makes it easier to add further new processes, and allows users to make a choice of processes to implement. This version also has several new features to handle complicated multi-body production processes. A systematic way to combine many subprocesses to a single base-subprocess has been introduced, and a new method has been adopted to calculate the color factors of complicated QCD processes. They speed up the calculation significantly.Comment: 21 pages, no figur

Design-Simulation-Optimization Package For A Generic 6-DOF Manipulator With A Spherical Wrist

Robot manipulators are built to meet certain predetermined performance requirements. The question of whether the robot will have the desired functionality (e.g. dexterity, accuracy, reliability, speed, etc.) needs to be answered before the robot is actualThis is an Author's Original Manuscript of an Article submitted for consideration in the Systems Analysis Modelling Simulation copyright Taylor & Francis; Systems Analysis Modelling Simulation is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0232929031000150337#.VFpIMWNNfH

Modern Particle Physics Event Generation with WHIZARD

We describe the multi-purpose Monte-Carlo event generator WHIZARD for the simulation of high-energy particle physics experiments. Besides the presentation of the general features of the program like SM physics, BSM physics, and QCD effects, special emphasis will be given to the support of the most accurate simulation of the collider environments at hadron colliders and especially at future linear lepton colliders. On the more technical side, the very recent code refactoring towards a completely object-oriented software package to improve maintainability, flexibility and code development will be discussed. Finally, we present ongoing work and future plans regarding higher-order corrections, more general model support including the setup to search for new physics in vector boson scattering at the LHC, as well as several lines of performance improvements.Comment: 7 pages; contribution to the proceedings of the conference "ACAT 2014 (Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in physics)", Prague, Czech Republic, September 201

Les Houches Guidebook to Monte Carlo Generators for Hadron Collider Physics

Recently the collider physics community has seen significant advances in the formalisms and implementations of event generators. This review is a primer of the methods commonly used for the simulation of high energy physics events at particle colliders. We provide brief descriptions, references, and links to the specific computer codes which implement the methods. The aim is to provide an overview of the available tools, allowing the reader to ascertain which tool is best for a particular application, but also making clear the limitations of each tool.Comment: 49 pages Latex. Compiled by the Working Group on Quantum ChromoDynamics and the Standard Model for the Workshop ``Physics at TeV Colliders'', Les Houches, France, May 2003. To appear in the proceeding

Cusp Points in the Parameter Space of Degenerate 3-RPR Planar Parallel Manipulators

This paper investigates the conditions in the design parameter space for the existence and distribution of the cusp locus for planar parallel manipulators. Cusp points make possible non-singular assembly-mode changing motion, which increases the maximum singularity-free workspace. An accurate algorithm for the determination is proposed amending some imprecisions done by previous existing algorithms. This is combined with methods of Cylindric Algebraic Decomposition, Gr\"obner bases and Discriminant Varieties in order to partition the parameter space into cells with constant number of cusp points. These algorithms will allow us to classify a family of degenerate 3-RPR manipulators.Comment: ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics (2012) 1-1

Reducing the Barrier to Entry of Complex Robotic Software: a MoveIt! Case Study

Developing robot agnostic software frameworks involves synthesizing the disparate fields of robotic theory and software engineering while simultaneously accounting for a large variability in hardware designs and control paradigms. As the capabilities of robotic software frameworks increase, the setup difficulty and learning curve for new users also increase. If the entry barriers for configuring and using the software on robots is too high, even the most powerful of frameworks are useless. A growing need exists in robotic software engineering to aid users in getting started with, and customizing, the software framework as necessary for particular robotic applications. In this paper a case study is presented for the best practices found for lowering the barrier of entry in the MoveIt! framework, an open-source tool for mobile manipulation in ROS, that allows users to 1) quickly get basic motion planning functionality with minimal initial setup, 2) automate its configuration and optimization, and 3) easily customize its components. A graphical interface that assists the user in configuring MoveIt! is the cornerstone of our approach, coupled with the use of an existing standardized robot model for input, automatically generated robot-specific configuration files, and a plugin-based architecture for extensibility. These best practices are summarized into a set of barrier to entry design principles applicable to other robotic software. The approaches for lowering the entry barrier are evaluated by usage statistics, a user survey, and compared against our design objectives for their effectiveness to users