stanhf: HistFactory models in the probabilistic programming language Stan
Andrew Fowlie · The European Physical Journal C · 2025
Abstract In collider physics, experiments are often based on counting the numbers of events in bins of a histogram. We present a new way to build and analyze statistical models that describe these experiments, based on the probabilistic programming language and the specification. A command-line tool transpiles models into code and data files. Because is an imperative language, it enables richer and more detailed modeling, as modeling choices defined in the declarative specification can be tweaked and adapted in the language. was constructed with automatic differentiation, allowing modern computational algorithms for sampling and optimization.