HEP Manual

HEP or PREPRINTS is a bibliographic database of journal articles, monographs, preprints, conference papers, theses, etc. on high energy physics and neighboring fields like quantum gravity. It is jointly produced by the SLAC library and the DESY Documentation Group. The DESY documentation is responsible for providing access to the contents of the database. Each paper or monograph is indexed with a number of keywords (see Keyword List and User's Guide) which concentrate its physical contents.
Since July 2004 the keywords provided by the authors are also stored and eventually keywords derived from PACS numbers will be added.

The HEP database is installed under the database system SPIRES. The retrieval language is English and the bibliographic records are also in English.

The database contains bibliographic references from 1974 to the present (retrospective retrievals from 1969 on can be executed by the library staff).

The SLAC library updates the database daily. The file size is about 300.000 references (Jan. 1995) with annual increase of about 20.000 records.

You can find more detailed informations about the retrieval language in the SPIRES Search Guide. For newcomers, it's recommended to read this search guide before starting.

In the following description, possible abbreviations of commands or index fields will be written in capital letters. Most SPIRES commands can be abbreviated to the first 3 characters, e.g. SELect, FINd.

Sample search in HEP

-> SEL  HEP 
-> SHOw INDEX
Goal - Index:  DOCUMENT, DOCUMENTS, IRN, KEY, RECORD
   Qualifier:  D, DATE
   Qualifier:  PPF-SUBJECT, PS, SCL, STATUS
Simple Index:  A, AU, AUTHOR, NAME
Simple Index:  EA, EXACT-AUTHOR
Simple Index:  FA, FIRST-AUTHOR (Immediate)
Simple Index:  CN, COLLAB-NAME, COLLABORATION
Simple Index:  EXP, EXPERIMENT, EXPNO, SD, SE (Immediate)
Simple Index:  EE, EXACT-EXP, EXACT-EXPNO (Immediate)
Simple Index:  AF, AFF, AFFIL, AFFILIATION, INST, INSTITUTION
Simple Index:  AFFIL-WORD, AW
Simple Index:  T, TI, TITLE, WITH-LANGUAGE (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DESY-KEYWORD, DK, HEP-TOPIC, TOPIC, TP
Simple Index:  C, CITATION, CITED, JOUR-VOL-PAGE, JVP
Simple Index:  TOPCIT, TOPCITE (Immediate)
Simple Index:  BC, BROWSE-ONLY-INDX, CODEN, JOURNAL-CODEN (Immediate)
Simple Index:  J, JOURNAL, PUBLISHED_IN, SPICITE, VOL (Immediate)
Simple Index:  JOURNAL-YEAR, JY
Simple Index:  BB, BBN, BULL, BULLETIN-BD, BULLETIN-BD-NO, EPRINT (Immediate)
Simple Index:  R, REPORT, REPORT-NUM, REPT, RN (Immediate)
Simple Index:  CNUM, CONF-NUMBER (Immediate)
Simple Index:  PPFA, SLAC-TOPICS, SPECIAL-TOPICS, STP (Immediate)
Simple Index:  ANTIPPF, PPA (Immediate)
Simple Index:  PPF, PPFLIST# (Immediate)
Simple Index:  PDGSC 
Simple Index:  CODE1, DESY-CLASS-CODE
Simple Index:  E, ENERGY, ENERGYRANGE-CODE
Simple Index:  DESY-ABS-NUM, DRN
Simple Index:  DESY-XABS-NUM, XDRN
Simple Index:  CA, CORP-AUTHOR, CORPORATE-AUTHOR
Simple Index:  DATE-SORT, DS (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DATE-UPDATED, DU, DUPD (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DA, DADD, DATE-ADDED (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DESY-REPORTNO, DESYR, DREP, XR
Simple Index:  X, XCITE
Simple Index:  URL (Immediate)
Simple Index:  XVOL (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DPBN
Simple Index:  PHYSREAC-STATUS, PRS (Immediate)
Simple Index:  JOURNAL-PAGE, JP
Simple Index:  RPC
Simple Index:  N, NOTE
Simple Index:  TITLE-VARIANT, TV (Immediate)
Simple Index:  CERNKEY (Immediate)
Simple Index:  DIRN, DURHAM, DURHAM-REACTION
Simple Index:  CC, COUNTRY
Simple Index:  TCJ, TITLE-CHANGE-J
Simple Index:  CITECODEN, CITEJ, CITEJOURNAL, CJ
Simple Index:  F, FC, FIELD, FIELD-CODE
Simple Index:  TC, TY, TYPE, TYPE-CODE
Simple Index:  FK, FREE-KEYWORDS (Immediate)
Simple Index:  K, KEYWORDS (Immediate)

-> BROwse TI abel
ABCS
ABCXYZ
ABDELATIF
ABDUS
ABE-FUJII-SATO
ABEL
ABEL-MYRBERG
ABELIAN
ABELIANESS
ABELIANIZABLE
-More? y
ABELIANIZATION
ABELIANIZED
ABELIANNESS
ABELIZATION
ABELIZED
ABELIZING
ABELL
ABERDEEN
ABERRATING
ABERRATION
-More? 
-> FIN TI abel# AND d 1995
-Result: 23 DOCUMENTS
-> TYPE PAUSE
CONSEQUENCES OF AN ABELIAN FAMILY SYMMETRY.
By Pierre Ramond (Florida U.), UFIFT-HEP-95-7, Jun 1995. 17pp.
Contribution to the 25th Anniversary Volume Centre de Recherches
Mathematiques, Universite de Montreal.
e-Print Archive: hep-ph/9506319

 Ctrl C       (  Ctrl C interrupts the output  )

-> SEQ A
-> STORE RESULT abel     (  For an explanation of the STORE command,
                              see the SPIRES Manual )

Important HEP search terms

Author (A)

Different forms of names are tolerated in the search:

 -> FIN A Hawking
 -> FIN A Hawking, S.
 -> FIN A S. Hawking

When you are uncertain of the spelling, use the BROwse command. When using a truncation, only truncate the surname, because truncating the first name can produce unexpected results.

With the index field "First Author (FA)" you can look for the first author of a collaboration. The index field "Corporate Author (CA)" contains the corporate authors of a paper (e.g. DESY, Fermilab, SLAC,...).

Collaboration (CN)

The index CN shows the collaboration in which the experiment was run. To find all papers from a particular collaboration type for example:

-> FIN CN H1#

Use the Browse command, e.g.

-> BRO CN ALEPH

The collaboration index supports "wild card" searching, e.g.

-> FIN CN Aachen#Beijing

finds all papers with Aachen at the begin and Beijing at the end of the collaboration name.

Institution, Affilation (AF, INST)

Names of affilations or institutions must be written exactly or truncated, so use the browse command or make a search in the INSTITUTIONS database. Examples:

-> FIN AF DESY
-> FIN AF SLAC
-> FIN AF LBL#

Title (TI)

This index contains the title words, but "stopwords" like "the, a, then, ..." are ignored in title search. You can enter several title words in any combination, e.g.

-> FIN TI Regge# Pole# Pomeron#

finds all documents with title words beginning with Regge, pole and pomeron anywhere in the title in any order. In the title of books, papers and conferences or in abstracts words can be variable in spelling (e.g. quantum chromodynamics and QCD, pbar and anti-p, etc.). Use the BROwse command and\or use the right-truncation #:

-> FIN Title supersymmetr#

matches all documents with words like supersymmetry, supersymmetric, etc. in the title.
If you want to achieve a complete retrieval, it is recommended to execute a search in the keyword field with the help of Keyword list and User's guide (due to the uncertainties of words used by the author in the title).

Any search value containing any of the special characters ( ) < > = must be enclosed in quotes, e.g.

-> FIN T "SU(3)"

DESY-Keyword, Topic (DK, TP)

Most papers or monographs are indexed with a number of keywords (see Keyword List and User's Guide) which concentrate their physical contents. Search examples:

-> BRO TP Higgs
-> FIN TP Higgs particle
-> FIN DK "rho(770)"
-> FIN DK beauty#
-> FIN DK "electron positron --> tau+ tau-"

The truncation sign # can be used only once, at the end or internally.
Be aware that only 80% of papers in the HEP database have keywords assigned, so you should combine the keyword search with a title search for complete retrieval.

Citation, Cited (C)

The citation index contains the citations of a paper which cite a journal article or an electronic preprint (citations of other preprints or books are not kept). A citation search finds all papers which cite a particular journal article or electronic preprint. Citations of journal articles are stored in the format:
"Journal-5letter-coden-abbreviation, volume, page", e.g.

-> FIN C PHRVA, D4, 3388

finds papers which cite the article in Physical Review, Vol. D4, pg. 3388. (to find out the coden abbreviation for a particular journal use the CODEN index field). The section letters can precede or follow the volume numbers, e.g.

-> FIN C PHRVA, D30, 1002
-> FIN C PHRVA, 30D, 1002

will yield the same result.

Citations of electronic preprints are stored in the format

  hep-lat 9207004
  hep-ex 9209002 .

The citation search should be used cautiously, because not all papers indexed in HEP include citations.

Coden

The Coden index is not really an index but rather a translation table from journal names to their codens. It is needed for the citation search, because the citation index contains not the full journal names but their coden abbreviations. To find out the coden for a particular journal, use

-> BRO CODEN "Journal name" , e.g.

-> BRO CODEN Z.Phys.
Z. ASTROPHYS. (ZEASA)
Z. MATH. PHYS. (ZMPHA)
Z. NATURFORSCH. (ZNTFA)
Z. PHYS. (ZEPYA)
Z. WAHRSCHEIN VERW. GEBIET (ZWVGA)
ZAP. NAUCHN. SEMIN. LOMI (ZNSLA)
ZAPISKI NAUCHNYKH SEMINAROV, LENINGRADSKOE OTDELENIE, MATEMATICHESKII INSTITUT, AKADEMIA NAUK SSSR (U.S.S.R.) (ZNSLA)
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANGEWANDTE MATHEMATIK UND MECHANIK (ZAMMA)
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANGEWANDTE MATHEMATIK UND PHYSIK (ZAMPA)
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ASTROPHYSIK (ZEASA)

Then you use that coden in the citation search.

Report number (R, RN)

Search example:

-> BRO R DESY
DESY-FCE-91-01
DESY-FCE-92-01
DESY-FCE-92-02
DESY-FCE-92-03
DESY-FH1K-92-01
DESY-FH1K-92-02
DESY-FH1K-93-01
DESY-FH1K-94-01
DESY-FH1K-94-02
DESY-FH1K-94-03
-> FIN R DESY-FH1K-95-01

It's recommended to browse report numbers to see what form is being used.
Unnumbered preprints are assigned "Print ..." numbers for filling purposes.
The report number index supports "wild card" searching, for example:

-> FIN Report-num DESY#92-03

will find reports like DESY-F35-92-03, DESY-HERA-92-03, etc. The # stands for any characters.

Experiment number (EXP)

It is important to browse for the exact form of the experiment numbers, e.g.

-> BRO EXP fnal                                            
FNAL-CCFR
FNAL-CCNR
FNAL-E-0001
FNAL-E-0002
FNAL-E-0003
FNAL-E-0004
FNAL-E-0007
FNAL-E-0008
FNAL-E-0012
FNAL-E-0014
-> FIN EXP FNAL-E-0014

Preprint arXiv number (EPRINT, BB)

You can search for electronic preprints via the archive number, e.g.

-> FIN BB condmat-9503090
-> FIN EPRINT cond-mat/9503090

Journal index (JI)

The journal index contains the journal or conference proceedings in which a paper is published (if available). For example:

-> FIN EPRINT hepph-9504224
-Result: 1 DOCUMENT
-> TYPE JI
-JINDEX = Phys.Lett.B351;

Date (D)

Date is a qualifier and can only be used to narrow a previous result. All forms of date are accepted, except the "European" form:
19 Jun 1995; 6/19/95; 6/95; Jun 95; June 19, 1995
Not: 19-6-95
Date is a numerical field, so it's possible to search with "after", "before", < , > , e.g.

-> AND Date AFTER Dec 1993                                            
-> AND Date > 1985
-> FIN Date-Added > -7 (implicit "today"; looks for the new books of the 
                        current week in the BOOKS database)

Sorting

The results of a search in the HEP database are sorted in reverse chronological order (as they have been entered into the database). To obtain a true reverse chronological order, type

-> SEQ DS (D)

which sorts the records in descending order by the virtual field "Data Sort" (ds). It contains the document date (if available) or "date received".

Formats

The format in which the data are listed is the default format (which is called "public" or "default"). For other output formats type

-> SHOw FORmats .

To change the format, type

-> SET FORmat format_name

e.g.

-> SET FOR brief .

To see a complete unformatted record use:

-> CLEAR FORMAT                                                        
-> TYPE

You can also select certain elements to be displayed. For example, the command

-> TYPE Title Author Desy-Keywords

displays title, authors and keywords of your results in the HEP database. The name of the elements used for the TYPE command are not always the same names as the index fields used for the FIND command. So you search for keywords with "FINd Keyword ...", but you display them with "TYPE Desy-Keywords". You can take a look at the elements with

-> SHOw ELEments

Format examples:

-> FIN EPRINT hepph-9408235
-Result: 1 DOCUMENT

                                Default format

-> TYPE                                             
OPEN QUESTIONS IN CHARM DECAYS DESERVING AN ANSWER.
By I.I. Bigi (CERN & Notre Dame U.), CERN-TH-7370-94, Jul 1994. 9pp.
Contributed to Workshop on the Future of High Sensitivity Charm
Experiments: CHARM2000, Batavia, IL, 7-9 Jun 1994.
In *Batavia 1994, Proceedings, The future of high-sensitivity charm
experiments* 323-333. and CERN Geneva - TH. 7370 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p.
Notre Dame Univ. - UND-HEP-94-08 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p.
e-Print Archive: hep-ph/9408235

                                Format BRIEF

-> SET FORmat BRIEF
-> TYPE
1) I.I. Bigi, Open questions in charm decays
     deserving an answer.
     In *Batavia 1994, Proceedings, The future of
     high-sensitivity charm experiments* 323-333.
     and CERN Geneva - TH. 7370 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9
     p. Notre Dame Univ. - UND-HEP-94-08
     (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 .

                                Format ALLKEYS

-> SET FORmat ALLKEYS
-> TYPE
   1.
OPEN QUESTIONS IN CHARM DECAYS DESERVING AN ANSWER.
By I.I. Bigi (CERN & Notre Dame U.), CERN-TH-7370-94, Jul 1994. 9pp.
Contributed to Workshop on the Future of High Sensitivity Charm
Experiments: CHARM2000, Batavia, IL, 7-9 Jun 1994.
In *Batavia 1994, Proceedings, The future of high-sensitivity charm
experiments* 323-333. and CERN Geneva - TH. 7370 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p.
Notre Dame Univ. - UND-HEP-94-08 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p.
[2978857]
 
  talk/ charmed particle, decay modes/ decay modes, charmed particle/
  charmed particle, branching ratio/ Xi/c+, lifetime/ Xi/c0, lifetime/
  D, semileptonic decay/ semileptonic decay, D/ D/s, semileptonic
  decay/ semileptonic decay, D/s/ Xi/c+, semileptonic decay/
  semileptonic decay, Xi/c+/ Xi/c0, semileptonic decay/ semileptonic
  decay, Xi/c0/ Lambda/c+, semileptonic decay/ semileptonic decay,
  Lambda/c+/ D, radiative decay/ radiative decay, D/ D/s, radiative
  decay/ radiative decay, D/s/ D0 anti-D0, interference/ D,
  nonleptonic decay/ nonleptonic decay, D/ violation, CP/
  interpretation of experiments/ proposed experiment/

                                Unformatted Record

-> CLEAR FORmat
-> TYPE
 IRN = 2978857;
 DOC-TYPE = Conference Paper;
 REPORT-NUM = CERN-TH-7370-94;
 REPORT-NUM = UND-HEP-94-BIG08;
 REPORT-NUM = C94-06-07.1;
 ASTR;
   AUTHOR = Bigi, I.I.;
   AFFILIATION = CERN;
   AFFILIATION = Notre Dame U.;
 TITLE = Open questions in charm decays deserving an answer;
 DESY-CHECK = CERN Geneva - TH. 7370 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p. and Notre
 Dame Univ. - UND-HEP-94-08 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p;
 DATE = Jul 1994;
 PPF-SUBJECT = Experimental, Theoretical;
 P = 9;
 PPF = 9432;
 CITATION = PHLTA,B280,271;
 CITATION = ZEPYA,C62,623;
 CITATION = PHLTA,B293,430;
 CITATION = PHRVA,D49,5690;
 CITATION = PTPKA,89,131;
 CITATION = ZEPYA,C48,633;
 CITATION = PHLTA,B222,501;
 CITATION = PHLTA,B302,319;
 CITATION = PHLTA,B171,320;
 MEETING-NOTE = Contributed to Workshop on the Future of High
 Sensitivity Charm Experiments: CHARM2000, Batavia, IL, 7-9 Jun 1994;
 DESY-PUB-NOTE = In *Batavia 1994, Proceedings, The future of
 high-sensitivity charm experiments* 323-333. and CERN Geneva - TH. 7370
 (94/07,rec.Aug.) 9 p. Notre Dame Univ. - UND-HEP-94-08 (94/07,rec.Aug.)
 9 p;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = talk;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = charmed particle, decay modes;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = decay modes, charmed particle;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = charmed particle, branching ratio;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c+, lifetime;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c0, lifetime;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D/s, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, D/s;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c+, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Xi/c+;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c0, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Xi/c0;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Lambda/c+, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Lambda/c+;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, radiative decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = radiative decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D/s, radiative decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = radiative decay, D/s;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D0 anti-D0, interference;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, nonleptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = nonleptonic decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = violation, CP;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = interpretation of experiments;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = proposed experiment;
 DESY-ABS-NUM = D94-14019;
 DESY-ABS-NUM = D94-16400;
 CALTECH-TAG = 942765;
 DESY-CLASS-CODE = U;
 DATE-UPDATED = 04/08/95;
 ACCOUNT-UPD = ADDIS;
 DATE-ADDED = 08/05/94;
 ACCT-ADDED = ARACELI;
 BULL = HEPPH-9408235;
 URL = CERN9408;
   URLDOC = th-7370-94.ps.Z;

                                User defined format

-> TYPE A,T,DK
   AUTHOR = Bigi, I.I.;
 TITLE = Open questions in charm decays deserving an answer;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = talk;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = charmed particle, decay modes;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = decay modes, charmed particle;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = charmed particle, branching ratio;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c+, lifetime;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c0, lifetime;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D/s, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, D/s;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c+, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Xi/c+;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Xi/c0, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Xi/c0;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = Lambda/c+, semileptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = semileptonic decay, Lambda/c+;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, radiative decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = radiative decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D/s, radiative decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = radiative decay, D/s;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D0 anti-D0, interference;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = D, nonleptonic decay;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = nonleptonic decay, D;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = violation, CP;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = interpretation of experiments;
 DESY-KEYWORDS = proposed experiment;

Back to the DESY-Library Homepage.

July 1995, Sabine Pfaff, slightly updated Aug. 04 by HP