As part of my degree I’m taking a computing course which requires two project reports. The first was on e+e− → μ+μ− scattering, mediated via the photon and the Z boson.

I wrote the report in LaTeX, with the main program being written in Python. As an extension, I rewrote the bulk of the Python script in C in order to compare the relative performance of the two languages.

I’ve open-sourced the entire project, which you can view on GitHub.

Compiling

The C script should compile on just about any system with gcc using

$ gcc -Wall cross_section.c -o cross_section

The LaTeX document has a few dependencies.

1. atlasphysics which is bundled in the repository.
2. feynmp is found here. There’s a nice guide to installing feynmp on OS X here.
3. Standard packages such as amsmath, graphicx, subfig and float. I use the MacTex distribution for OS X, which ships with these packages by default.

You can view the final compiled report on GitHub.