Event-generator validation with MCPLOTS and LHC@home

Abstract

We document several recent updates to the MCPLOTS event-generator validation resource. The project is based on the RIVET analysis library and harnesses volunteer computing provided by LHC@home to generate high-statistics MC comparisons to data. Users interact with the resource via a simple website, http://mcplots.cern.ch/, which provides flexible options for requesting comparison plots and comprehensive statistical analyses on demand, all in a few clicks. The project has been structured to enable community-driven developments, and we discuss the computational back end, the web front end, and how to add new data analyses, generators, and tunes that would be accessible on the website for comparison.