A Les Houches Interface for BSM Generators

TL;DR

The paper addresses the lack of a general standard for describing beyond-the-standard-model states in collider simulations. It proposes extending the SUSY Les Houches Accord (SLHA) and integrating model parameter files into the Les Houches Event File (LHEF) to unify information flow between generators. The authors outline a concrete three-part interface defining an LHEF-compliant format that bundles particle content, quantum numbers, masses, decays, cross sections, and event data. This approach aims to reduce file fragmentation and errors, improving interoperability and efficiency of multi-stage LHC simulations.

Abstract

We propose to combine and slightly extend two existing "Les Houches Accords" to provide a simple generic interface between beyond-the-standard-model parton-level and event-level generators. All relevant information - particle content, quantum numbers of new states, masses, cross sections, parton-level events, etc - is collected in one single file, which adheres to the Les Houches Event File (LHEF) standard.