Tunes
 
 
Since some physics aspects cannot be derived from first principles, 
this program contains many parameters that represent a true 
uncertainty in our understanding of nature. Particularly afflicted 
are the areas of hadronization and multiparton interactions, which both 
involve nonperturbative QCD physics. 
 
 
Technically, PYTHIA  parameters can be varied independently of each 
other, but the physical requirement of a sensible description of a set 
of data leads to correlations and anticorrelations between the 
parameters. Hence the need to produce tunes, not of one parameter at 
a time, but simultaneously for a group of them. A well-known (separate) 
such example is parton densities, where combined tunes to a wide range 
of data have been produced, that can then be obtained prepackaged. 
 
 
Given the many PYTHIA parameters to be tuned, it is convenient to 
divide the task into subtasks. Firstly, if we assume jet universality, 
hadronization and final-state parton showers should be tuned to 
e^+e^- annihilation data, notably from LEP1, since this 
offers the cleanest environment. Secondly, with such parameters fixed, 
hadron collider data should be studied to pin down multiparton interactions 
and other further aspects, such as initial-state radiation. Ideally this 
would be done separately for diffractive and non-diffractive events, 
although it is not possible to have a clean separation. (Thirdly 
would come anything else, such as physics with photon beams, which 
involve further parameters, but that is beyond the current scope.) 
 
 
The first step was taken, with a tune to LEP1 data by Hendrik Hoeth, 
using the Rivet + Professor framework. Starting with version 8.125 it 
defined the default values for hadronization parameters and timelike 
showers. 
 
 
The situation is more complicated for hadronic interactions in general 
and multiparton interactions in particular, where PYTHIA 8 is more 
different from PYTHIA 6, and therefore more work is needed. Specifically, 
it is not possible to "port" a PYTHIA 6 tune to PYTHIA 8. 
 
 
A first simple tune, appropriately called "Tune 1", became default 
starting with version 8.127. It was noted, in particular by Hendrik 
Hoeth, that this tune had a tension between parameters needed to 
describe minimum-bias and underlying-event activity. Therefore some 
further physics features were introduced in the code itself 
[Cor10a], which were made default as of 8.140. This version 
also included two new tunes, 2C and 2M, based on the CTEQ 6L1 and the 
MRST LO** PDF sets, respectively. These have been made by hand, as a 
prequel to complete Professor-style tunings. 
 
 
The very first data to come out of the LHC showed a higher rapidity 
plateau than predicted for current PYTHIA 6 tunes, also for the lower 
energies. This may suggest some tension in the data. Two alternatives, 
3C and 3M, were produced by a few brute-force changes of 2C and 2M. 
These were introduced in 8.140, but discontinued in 8.145 in favour of 
the newer 4C tune, that is based on a more serious study of some early 
LHC data, see [Cor10a]. Following the comparative studies in 
[Buc11], which independently confirmed a reasonable agreement 
with LHC data, tune 4C was made the default from 8.150. A variant is 
tune 4Cx, where the Gaussian matter profile has an x-dependent 
width [Cor11]. 
 
 
Tune 4C was the basis for many subsequent LHC tunes. Several ATLAS tunes 
have been included here, obtained with different PDFs and with different 
emphasis on minimum-bias and underlying-event data [ATL12]. 
These typically require LHAPDF to be linked, but this can be avoided 
in cases where the same PDF set is implemented internally. Also two CMS 
underlying-event tunes are implemented [CMS14]. The ATLAS AZ tune 
[ATL14] instead puts emphasis on the pT spectrum of 
the Z^/gamma^*0 boson. 
 
 
The Monash 2013 tune [Ska14] is based on a larger set of LHC 
distributions. It starts out from a more careful comparison with and 
tuning to LEP data, and so involves several parameter changes. The PDF 
used is the NNPDF2.3 QCD+QED LO one with alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.130, 
which includes more recent data than used in the previous default, and 
opens up for processes with incoming photons to the hard process. 
It is the default starting from 8.200. 
 
 
Recent tunes by the LHC collaborations are based on the Monash 2013 one. 
This includes the CMS tune MonashStar, or formally CUETP8M1-NNPDF2.3LO 
(currently unpublished). More significantly, ATLAS has produced and 
published a whole family for underlying-event tunes based on a major 
effort, including simultaneous fits of ten parameters [ATL14a]. 
This includes four central tunes, with four different PDF sets, and 
ten variations around the NNPDF2.3 QCD+QED LO central tune, grouped in 
five pairs of variations up and down. The publication [ATL14a] 
should be consulted for further details, like with what additional 
settings various processes have been generated, which should be respected 
to reap full benefit of the tunes. 
 
 
Central diffraction is a recent addition to the "soft QCD" process palette, 
and is thus not yet included in tunes; indeed its cross section is actively 
zeroed. You can switch it back on after you have selected your tune, 
with SigmaTotal:zeroAXB = off. But note that, since the 
total cross section is assumed unchanged, the nondiffractive cross section 
is reduced and thus also the MPI machinery affected, even if effects 
should not be big (for a small central diffractive cross section). 
 
 
Note that comparisons with data also require that other aspects agree, 
such as that decay chains are stopped at an agreed-on level. For instance, 
in the ATLAS tunes all particles with a lifetime above 10 mm 
are considered stable, ParticleDecays:limitTau0 = on, 
ParticleDecays:tau0Max = 10. We have chosen not to 
include this as part of the tune settings itself, since the tune as 
such could still be used with any other choice of stable and 
unstable particles. 
 
 
Further comparisons have been posted on the 
MCPLOTS pages. 
They have been produced with help of the 
Rivet package 
[Buc10]. 
 
 
To simplify comparisons for the user, we propose to collect some of 
the tunes here, in a prepackaged form. Of course, in all cases it is 
a matter of setting values for parameters already defined elsewhere, 
so the tunes offer no new functionality, only a more convenient setup. 
 
 
You should be aware that the evolution of the program will not guarantee 
complete backwards compatibility between versions. Most obviously this 
concerns bug fixes. But also for some other major changes, like the 
introduction of the new diffractive machinery, the default behaviour 
of old tunes has been changed retroactively. (Which should be fine for 
diffraction, since previous tunes were not based on data strongly 
influenced by diffraction.) 
 
 
The setup of the tunes is special, in that the choice of a tune forces 
the change of several different flags, modes and parameters. Furthermore 
a design principle has been that it should be possible to start out 
from a tune and then change a few of its settings. This gives power 
and flexibility at the expense of requiring a more careful ordering 
of commands. We therefore here sketch the order in which operations 
are carried out. 
 
- The constructor of a Pythiainstance will read in 
all settings, and initialize them with their default values.
- At the end of this operation, the Tune:eeandTune:ppmodes (see further below) are checked. If either 
of them are positive the methodsSettings::initTuneEE(...)andSettings::initTunePP(...), respectively, are called 
to overwrite the whole collection of settings in the relevant tune. 
Zero (or negative) means that nothing will be done. 
Since most pp/ppbar tunes have been made in the context 
of an e^+e^- one,initTunePP(...)usually 
callsinitTuneEE(...)to provide this synchronization.
- After the Pythiaconstructor all the relevant values 
for the default tune(s) have thus been set up.
- You as a user can now start to overwrite the values at will, 
using Pythia::readFile(...)to read a configuration file, 
or a list ofPythia::readString(...)commands, 
or the lower-levelSettingsmethods. All changes 
are made in the order in which the commands are encountered during 
the execution. A given variable can be changed multiple times, 
but it is the latest change that sets the current value.
- The two Tune:eeandTune:ppmodes can also 
be changed in exactly the same way as described for all other settings 
above. Unique for them, however, is that when one of them is encountered 
it also initiates a call to theinitTuneEE(...)orinitTunePP(...)method, respectively. In such cases all 
settings affected by the e^+e^- or pp/ppbar tune 
are first reset to the default values (the-1options) 
and thereafter the relevant tune is set up. 
Recall thatinitTunePP(...)in its turn is allowed to callinitTuneEE(...).
- It is possible to mix commands of type 4 and 5 in any order; it 
is always the last change that counts. That is, any changes you have 
made to variables of a tune before a Tune:eeorTune:ppcommand are overwritten by it, while variables 
you set after will overwrite the tune values. Further, 
theTune:ppcommand usually implies an e^+e^- 
tune as well. ThereforeTune:eewould rarely be used for 
LHC applications. As a rule, instead, you want to begin with theTune:ppchoice, and thereafter modify only a small part 
of its settings.
- Needless to say, the flexibility can lead to unwanted setups if 
you do not exercise some discipline. It is therefore recommended that 
you always check the listing obtained with 
Pythia::settings.listChanged()to confirm that the 
final set of changes is the intended one.
mode   Tune:ee   
 (default = 7; minimum = -1; maximum = 7)
Choice of tune to e^+e^- data, mainly for the hadronization 
and timelike-showering aspects of PYTHIA. In the following options the 
settings file used to load the tune is provided after the tune 
number. Every tune here can then be equivalently loaded with the 
command include = tunes/settings.cmnd where 
settings.cmnd is the corresponding settings file. In the 
future the Tune:ee setting will be removed in favor of 
the include syntax. 
option  -1 : (tunes/Reset-ee.cmnd) reset all values 
that are affected by any of the e^+e^- tunes to the default 
values. 
   
option  0 : no values are overwritten during the initial setup, 
step 2 above. Note that changing to 0 in the user code 
has no effect; if you want to restore the individual settings you 
should instead use -1. 
   
option  1 : (tunes/OldJETSET.cmnd) the original 
PYTHIA 8 parameter set, based on some very old flavour studies (with 
JETSET around 1990) and a simple tune of alpha_strong to 
three-jet shapes to the new pT-ordered shower. These were the 
default values before version 8.125. 
   
option  2 : (tunes/Montull2007.cmnd) a tune by Marc 
Montull to the LEP 1 particle composition, as published in the RPP 
(August 2007). No related (re)tune to event shapes has been performed, 
however. 
   
option  3 : (tunes/Hoeth2009.cmnd) a tune to a wide 
selection of LEP1 data by Hendrik Hoeth within the Rivet + Professor 
framework, both to hadronization and timelike-shower parameters (June 
2009). These were the default values starting from version 8.125. 
   
option  4 : (tunes/Skands2013.cmnd) a tune to LEP 
data by Peter Skands, by hand, both to hadronization and 
timelike-shower parameters (September 2013).  Note the use of the CMW 
convention for the shower alpha_s scale. 
   
option  5 : (tunes/Fischer2013-1.cmnd) first tune to 
LEP data by Nadine Fischer (September 2013), based on the default 
flavour-composition parameters. Input is event shapes (ALEPH and 
DELPHI), identified particle spectra (ALEPH), multiplicities (PDG), 
and B hadron fragmentation functions (ALEPH). 
   
option  6 : (tunes/Fischer2013-2.cmnd) second tune 
to LEP data by Nadine Fischer (September 2013). Similar to the first 
one, but event shapes are weighted up significantly, and multiplicites 
not included. 
   
option  7 : (tunes/Monash2013-ee.cmnd) the Monash 
2013 tune by Peter Skands at al. [Ska14], to both 
e^+e^- and pp/pbarp data. 
   
   
 
mode   Tune:preferLHAPDF   
 (default = 0; minimum = 0; maximum = 3)
Tunes made by experimental collaborations typically use the LHAPDF 
package to obtain their PDF values, and so PYTHIA must be built 
accordingly. See the PDF 
documentation for more information. For PDFs implemented 
natively in PYTHIA it is possible to use the respective tunes, without 
having to use LHAPDF, if you set Tune:preferLHAPDF = 
0. Alternatively, setting Tune:preferLHAPDF = 3 
will use the internal PYTHIA interpolation of LHAPDF6 PDF grids, so 
while the LHAPDF6 library is not needed, the PDF grid is. 
option  0 :  Use the internal PYTHIA PDFs. 
   
option  1 :  Use LHAPDF5 PDFs. 
   
option  2 :  Use LHAPDF6 PDFs. 
   
option  3 :  Use LHAPDF6 PDF grids with the internal PYTHIA 
interpolation rather than the LHAPDF6 library. 
   
   
 
mode   Tune:pp   
 (default = 14; minimum = -1; maximum = 34)
Choice of tune to pp/ppbar data, mainly for the 
initial-state-radiation, multiparton-interactions and beam-remnants 
aspects of PYTHIA. Note that all early tunes, including those done by 
the LHC collaborations based on tune 4C, use the e^+e^- tune 
tunes/Hoeth2009.cmnd (Tune:ee = 3), while the 
Monash 2013 tune and the further tunes based on it use 
Monash2013-ee.cmnd (Tune:ee = 7). All the 
tune configurations provided also load their corresponding 
e^+e^-. If this is not the wanted behaviour, then these 
e^+e^- settings must be changed after setting the 
pp/ppbar tune. In the following options the settings file 
used to load the tune is provided after the tune number. Every tune 
here can then be equivalently loaded with the command include = 
tunes/settings.cmnd where settings.cmnd is the 
corresponding settings file. In the future the Tune:pp 
setting will be removed in favor of the include syntax. 
option  -1 : (tunes/Reset-pp.cmnd) reset all values 
that are affected by any of the pp/ppbar tunes to the default 
values. 
   
option  0 : no values are overwritten during the initial setup, 
step 2 above. Note that changing to 0 in the user code 
has no effect; if you want to restore the individual settings you 
should instead use -1. 
   
option  1 : (tunes/OldIsrMpi.cmnd) default used up 
to version 8.126, based on some early and primitive comparisons with 
data. 
   
option  2 : (tunes/Skands2009.cmnd) "Tune 1", 
default in 8.127 - 8.139, based on some data comparisons by Peter 
Skands. Largely but not wholly overlaps with the default option 0. 
   
option  3 : (tunes/Tune2C.cmnd) "Tune 2C", 
introduced with 8.140 [Cor10a].  It uses the CTEQ 6L1 PDF, 
and is intended to give good agreement with much of the published CDF 
data. 
   
option  4 : (tunes/Tune2M.cmnd) "Tune 2M", 
introduced with 8.140 [Cor10a].  It is uses the MRST LO** 
PDF, which has a momentum sum somewhat above unity, which is 
compensated by a smaller alpha_s than in the previous 
tune. Again it is intended to give good agreement with much of the 
published CDF data. 
   
option  5 : (tunes/Tune4C.cmnd) "Tune 4C", newer 
tune, introduced with 8.145 [Cor10a]. Starts out from tune 
2C, but with a reduced cross section for diffraction, plus modified 
multiparton interactions parameters to give a higher and more rapidly 
increasing charged pseudorapidity plateau, for better agreement with 
some early key LHC numbers.  See also the comparative study in 
[Buc11].  The starting point for many later tunes. 
   
option  6 : (tunes/Tune4Cx.cmnd) "Tune 4Cx", based 
on tune 4C, but using the x-dependent matter profile, 
MultipartonInteractions:bProfile = 4 and an increased 
MultipartonInteractions:pT0Ref [Cor11]. 
   
option  7 : (tunes/ATLAS-MB-A2-CTEQ6L1.cmnd) "ATLAS 
MB Tune A2-CTEQ6L1", a minimum-bias tune based on tune 4Cx, but 
without rapidity-ordered spacelike emissions [ATL12]. Uses 
CTEQ 6L1, by default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  8 : (tunes/ATLAS-MB-A2-MSTW2008LO.cmnd) 
"ATLAS MB Tune A2-MSTW2008LO", as above, but uses MSTW 2008 LO, by 
default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  9 : (tunes/ATLAS-UE-AU2-CTEQ6L1.cmnd) "ATLAS 
UE Tune AU2-CTEQ6L1", an underlying-event tune based on tune 4Cx, but 
without rapidity-ordered spacelike emissions [ATL12]. Uses 
CTEQ 6L1, by default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  10 : (tunes/ATLAS-UE-AU2-MSTW2008LO.cmnd) 
"ATLAS UE Tune AU2-MSTW2008LO", as above, but uses MSTW 2008 LO, by 
default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  11 : (tunes/ATLAS-UE-AU2-CT10.cmnd) "ATLAS 
UE Tune AU2-CT10", as above, but uses CT 10, which is not currently 
implemented in PYTHIA, so you must link LHAPDF. 
   
option  12 : (tunes/ATLAS-UE-AU2-MRST2007LOx.cmnd) 
"ATLAS UE Tune AU2-MRST2007LO*", as above, but uses MRST 2007 LO*, by 
default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  13 : (tunes/ATLAS-UE-AU2-MRST2007LOxx.cmnd) 
"ATLAS UE Tune AU2-MRST2007LO**", as above, but uses MRST 2007 LO**, 
by default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  14 : (tunes/Monash2013.cmnd) the Monash 2013 
tune by Peter Skands at al. [Ska14], to both e^+e^- 
and pp/pbarp data. The starting point for many later tunes. 
   
option  15 : (tunes/CMS-CUETP8S1-CTEQ6L1.cmnd) "CMS 
UE Tune CUETP8S1-CTEQ6L1", an underlying-event tune based on tune 4C 
[CMS14]. Uses CTEQ 6L1, by default from LHAPDF. 
   
option  16 : (tunes/CMS-CUETP8S1-HERAPDF1.cmnd) "CMS 
UE Tune CUETP8S1-HERAPDF1.5LO", an underlying-event tune based on tune 
4C [CMS14]. Uses HERAPDF1.5LO, which is not currently 
implemented in PYTHIA, so you must link LHAPDF. 
   
option  17 : (tunes/ATLAS-AZ.cmnd) "ATLAS Tune AZ", 
is tuned to the pT spectrum of the Z^/gamma^*0 boson 
in a set of rapidity bins [ATL14]. 
   
option  18 : (tunes/CMS-CUETP8M1-NNPDF23LO.cmnd) 
"CMS Tune MonashStar", alias CUETP8M1-NNPDF2.3LO, an underlying-event 
tune based on the Monash 2013 tune. 
   
option  19 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-CTEQL1.cmnd) "ATLAS 
A14 central tune with CTEQL1", a full-scale tune to most ATLAS jet and 
underlying-event observables [ATL14a], starting out from the 
Monash 2013 tune. The following tunes 20 - 32 belong to the same 
group. 
   
option  20 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-MSTW2008LO.cmnd) 
"ATLAS A14 central tune with MSTW2008LO", see above tune 19. 
   
option  21 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-NNPDF32LO.cmnd) "ATLAS 
A14 central tune with NNPDF2.3LO", see above tune 19. Defines the 
center of the 23 - 32 variations, so would be a good choice if you 
only want to study one tune from the A14 family. 
   
option  22 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-HERAPDF15LO.cmnd) 
"ATLAS A14 central tune with HERAPDF1.5LO", see above tune 19. Uses 
HERAPDF1.5LO, which is not currently implemented in PYTHIA, so you 
must link LHAPDF. 
   
option  23 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v+1.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 1+" of tune 21. 
   
option  24 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v-1.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 1-" of tune 21. 
   
option  25 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v+2.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 2+" of tune 21. 
   
option  26 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v-2.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 2-" of tune 21. 
   
option  27 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v+3a.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3a+" of tune 21. 
   
option  28 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v-3a.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3a-" of tune 21. 
   
option  29 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v+3b.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3b+" of tune 21. 
   
option  30 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v-3b.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3b-" of tune 21. 
   
option  31 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v+3c.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3c+" of tune 21. 
   
option  32 : (tunes/ATLAS-A14-v-3c.cmnd) "ATLAS A14 
variation 3c-" of tune 21.