Rivet developer & user workshop
Lunga House
Craobh Haven and Lunga House
A short residential meeting to develop the Rivet machinery: from MC systematics, to detector fast-smearing, to BSM interpretation, and to statistical fits in both MC tuning and BSM scans.
Venue
The meeting will be held in Lunga House (http://www.lungahouse.co.uk) near Croabh Haven on the West Coast of Scotland, half an hour from the port town of Oban and an incredibly picturesque trip from Glasgow via Arrochar and Loch Fyne. Some of the most famous sites in the highlands are only slightly further north -- Rannoch Moor, Glencoe, and Ben Nevis -- and Oban is the gateway to the western isles of Jura, Mull and Islay.
Your accommodation costs at Lunga House will be covered for three days from the afternoon of 21 May until after lunch on the 24th. This will include breakfast, lunch, and dinner: please let us know if you have any special requirements. If you want to stay at Lunga outside these times, you will need to make special arrangement -- please also let us know if this is the case.
A word of advance warning: the wifi and internet connection are not world-class! This is a mixed blessing... just don't expect to be streaming any movies or, probably, Skyping/Vidyoing.
Getting there
Croabh Haven is a bit off the beaten track, although very picturesquely so. Since there is no easy public transport to the venue, there are two main options:
- hire car from Edinburgh or Glasgow (airports)
- train from Glasgow to Oban, followed by taxi to Lunga House
If you want to take the hire car route, and would be interested in sharing, then let us know where & when you will be starting/ending and we'll try to put you in touch with other compatible would-be sharers. It's a lovely drive past Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, then the Argyll coastline, and a car is the easiest way to explore the area before or after the meeting (see later).
If you want to take the train and taxi option, please take a moment to work out when you will most likely arrive in Oban and let us know, and we'll investigate arranging a group taxi.
The journey by either car or train will take roughly 2.5 to 3 hours from Glasgow, and a bit longer from Edinburgh.
We may be able to provide some further financial support for travel, although it depends on the final number of participants and will be allocated in order of need. Especially for students, if you do not have alternative funding for travel costs and require assistance, let us know asap.
Meeting topics
We have many things to discuss and work on, and will hopefully make a Rivet version 2.6.1 release shortly before the workshop so we can develop without fear of disrupting the release schedule. As a starting point, here are several broad topic areas:
- detector smearing and BSM analyses
- analysis recasting
- efficiency and embedding in global fit machinery
- histogramming, event weights, and run-merging
- SM machinery and analyses
They are not completely orthogonal, of course, but hopefully give reasonable coverage of current hot topics. Please let us know if you plan/hope to work on areas unrelated to these, and we'll add to the list.
Distractions and sight-seeing
We can't guarantee beautiful weather -- Scotland is anything but predictable in that respect -- but the area is still wonderful even when the sun doesn't shine. April and May have been very nice in the last few years, though... keep your fingers crossed.
If you want to do some sightseeing before or after the trip, we recommend the following (sort-of) local destinations:
- Boat trip through Corryvreckan whirlpool and Grey Dogs rapids [POSSIBLE EXCURSION TRIP]
- The Crinan Canal
- Oban distillery
- Cruachan "Hollow Mountain" Hydro Power Station [CURRENTLY NO TOURS]
- Ferry from Oban to Western Isles, e.g. nearby Mull or Jura
- A bit further north: world-famous walking, history and climbing at Loch Awe, Rannoch Moor, Glencoe, Glen Etive, Loch Leven, Glen Nevis and Ben Nevis, etc. etc.
- The Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness
See some further recommendations here and here.
If you've got any queries, especially for outdoor activities, Andy Buckley or other locals may be able to advise.