REST-for-Physics, a ROOT-based framework for event oriented data analysis and combined Monte Carlo response

Abstract

The REST-for-Physics (Rare Event Searches Toolkit for Physics) framework is a ROOT-based solution providing the means to process and analyze experimental or Monte Carlo event data. Special care has been taken to the traceability of the code and the validation of the results produced within the framework, together with the connectivity between code and stored data, registered through specific version metadata members.The framework development was originally motivated to cover the needs of Rare Event Searches experiments (experiments looking for phenomena having extremely low occurrence probability, like dark matter or neutrino interactions or rare nuclear decays). The framework components naturally implement tools to address the challenges in these kinds of experiments. The integration of a detector physics response, the implementation of signal processing routines, or topological algorithms for physical event identification are some examples. Despite this specialization, the framework was conceived thinking in scalability. Other event-oriented applications could benefit from the data processing routines and/or metadata description implemented in REST, being the generic framework tools completely decoupled from dedicated libraries.REST-for-Physics is a consolidated piece of software already serving the needs of different physics experiments - using gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) as detection technology - for detector data analysis and characterization, as well as generic R&D. Even though REST has been exploited mainly with gaseous TPCs, the code could be easily applied or adapted to other detector technologies. We present in this work an overview of REST-for-Physics, providing a broad perspective to the infrastructure and organization of the project as a whole. The framework and its different components will be described in the text.