A Cross-Platform Graphical User Interface for the High-Energy Accelerator Design Code MAD-9

60781 The MAD (Modular Accelerator Design) code is the most widely used code worldwide for high-energy accelerator design but lacks a modern GUI (graphical user interface). MAD-9, the latest version, has powerful new features needed for the design of the Large Hadron Collider and the proposed muon collider/neutrino factory, but the differential algebra engine needs work. This project will develop a comprehensive GUI for MAD-9, using the cross-platform windowing toolkit Qt. Significant effort will also be devoted to improving the differential algebra engine of MAD-9, and to ensuring that the code compiles and runs on all relevant desktop and workstation computers. In Phase I, a prototype GUI was developed and integrated with MAD-9, enabling the interactive selection of input files, the generation of Twiss and beamline layout plots, and the modification of element and beamline parameters. The GUI/physics linkage is clean and efficient, requiring no GUI references within the physics code. In Phase II, the prototype GUI for MAD-9 will be completed, with emphasis on support for design and optimization features. Relevant portions of this GUI will be integrated with a general purpose optimization library. In collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory, the differential algebra engine of MAD-9 will be significantly improved and then used to support design studies of the high-energy muon storage ring for the proposed neutrino factory. Commercial Applications and Other Benefit as described by the awardee: The GUI will be free to MAD-9 users, to the benefit of high-energy accelerator designers and the Large Hadron Collider. The need to use MAD on desktop and laptop PCs also should generate direct sales for the commercial PC version of the code. There will also be a significant market for contract work to customize the core of the GUI for use with other scientific and engineering design codes.