CutLang: A Particle Physics Analysis Description Language and Runtime Interpreter

This note introduces CutLang, a domain specific language that aims to provide a clear, human readable way to define analyses in high energy particle physics (HEP) along with an interpretation framework of that language. A proof of principle (PoP) implementation of the CutLang interpreter, achieved using C++ as a layer over the CERN data analysis framework ROOT, is presently available. This PoP implementation permits writing HEP analyses in an unobfuscated manner, as a set of commands in human readable text files, which are interpreted by the framework at runtime. We describe the main features of CutLang and illustrate its usage with two analysis examples. Initial experience with CutLang has shown that a just-in-time interpretation of a human readable HEP specific language is a practical alternative to analysis writing using compiled languages such as C++.