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The FeynArts Visitor Center
FeynArts is a Mathematica package for the generation and visualization of Feynman diagrams and amplitudes. Its main features are:
- The generation of diagrams is possible at three levels: generic
fields, classes of fields, or specific particles.
- The model information is contained in two special files:
The Generic Model File defines the representation of the kinematical quantities like spinors or vector fields.
The Classes Model File sets up the particle content and specifies the actual couplings.
Since the user can create own model files, the applicability of FeynArts is virtually unlimited within perturbative quantum field theory. - In addition to ordinary diagrams, FeynArts can generate counter-term
diagrams and diagrams with placeholders for one-particle irreducible
vertex functions (skeleton diagrams).
- FeynArts employs the so-called
"flipping-rule"
algorithm to concatenate fermion chains.
This algorithm works also for fermion-number-violating couplings (e.g. quark–squark–gluino) and hence allows supersymmetric models to be implemented. - Restrictions of the type "field X is not allowed in loops"
can be applied. This is necessary e.g. for the background-field
formulation of a field theory.
- Vertices of arbitrary adjacency, required for effective theories,
are allowed.
- Mixing propagators, such as appear in
non-Rξ-gauges,
are supported.
- FeynArts produces publication-quality Feynman diagrams in PostScript or LaTeX in a format that allows easy customization.
FeynArts has been published in
Comput. Phys. Commun. 140 (2001) 418
[hep-ph/0012260].
The reference for the old version 1 is
Comput. Phys. Commun. 60 (1990) 165.
The MSSM model files are documented in Comput. Phys. Commun. 143 (2002) 54 [hep-ph/0105349] and Comput. Phys. Commun. 185 (2014) 1529 [arXiv:1309.1692] (including counter-terms).
The historical development: FeynArts started out in 1990 as a Macsyma code written by Hagen Eck and Sepp Küblbeck which could produce diagrams in the Standard Model, but soon got ported to the Mathematica platform. In 1995, Eck and Küblbeck designed the second version to be a fully general diagram generator. They implemented some decisive new ideas, the most important one being the generation of diagrams in three levels. The program was taken up again in 1998 by Thomas Hahn who developed version 2.2. The well-designed conceptual framework was kept, but the actual code was reprogrammed almost entirely to make it more efficient and a user-friendly topology editor was added. The current version 3 features a completely new rendering engine for PostScript and LaTeX, together with full support of the Mathematica Frontend's graphical capabilities. It is also no longer dependent on the X platform for topology editing like version 2.2.
More information:
- People interested in the algorithms and program design can download
Hagen Eck's Ph.D. thesis.
- Some lecture material including lectures on FeynArts and FormCalc:
Part 1. Introduction to Mathematica and FORM: Slides ⋅ Examples ⋅ Mathematica Primer
Part 2. Symbolic Programming Examples: Slides ⋅ Examples
Part 3. Numeric Programming Examples: Slides ⋅ Examples
Part 4. Using FeynArts and FormCalc: Slides ⋅ Examples
The installation script gets you started quickly and easily.
- Download the shell script FeynInstall [6 kB].
(Use the right mouse button and "Save Link As...") - Make it executable with "chmod 755 FeynInstall".
- Run it in the directory in which you want the packages installed: "./FeynInstall".
- The script separately prompts you for the installation of FeynArts, FormCalc, and LoopTools.
- Finally, it asks whether to include FeynArts and FormCalc in Mathematica's $Path.
Downloads (hover over download link for MD5):
- FeynArts-3.12.tar.gz [3.17 MB] of 27 Mar 2025
- Removed spurious warning about deprecated symbol.
- FeynArts-3.11.tar.gz [3.15 MB] of 25 Mar 2022
- FeynArts-3.10.tar.gz [2.55 MB] of 21 Jan 2019
- FeynArts-3.9.tar.gz [2.48 MB] of 23 Sep 2015
- FeynArts-3.8.tar.gz [1.6 MB] of 9 Jul 2013
- FeynArts-3.7.tar.gz [1.6 MB] of 4 Dec 2012
- FeynArts-3.6.tar.gz [1.54 MB] of 28 Mar 2011
- FeynArts-3.5.tar.gz [1.39 MB] of 16 Apr 2010
- FeynArts-3.4.tar.gz [1.36 MB] of 29 Jun 2009
- FeynArts-3.3.tar.gz [1.34 MB] of 21 Jan 2008
- FeynArts-3.2.tar.gz [1.32 MB] of 6 Mar 2007
- FeynArts-3.1.tar.gz [664 kB] of 7 Apr 2003
- FeynArts-3.0.tar.gz [578 kB] of 19 Oct 2001
- FeynArts-2.2.tar.gz [397 kB] of 30 May 2000
- FeynArts-2.1.tar.gz [432 kB] of 27 Mar 1996
- FeynArts-1.2.tar.gz [279 kB] of 1 Dec 1997
Requirements:
- Mathematica 3 or above,
- with Mathematica versions before 5.0, a Java VM and the J/Link package are needed for the topology editor. Both ingredients can be obtained free of charge from https://www.wolfram.com/solutions/mathlink/jlink (J/Link) and https://www.java.com (Java). Note that many systems (e.g. Windows) have a Java VM pre-installed. Follow the instructions that come with J/Link for installation on the various platforms.
To install FeynArts, simply unpack the archive
FeynArts-n.m.tar.gz.
More detailed instructions are given in the manual contained in the
FeynArts distribution.
You can obtain the manual of the current
version here.
Hint: add the following statement to your personal Mathematica init.m file (on Linux e.g. $HOME/.Mathematica/Kernel/init.m, on MacOS $HOME/Library/Mathematica/Kernel/init.m) to make Mathematica Kernels ≥ 6.0 display graphics again – choose your favorite PDF viewer instead of evince:
If[ !TrueQ[$Notebooks],
gvexec = (Export[##2]; Run["(" <> #1 <> " " <> #2 <> "; rm " <> #2 <> ")&"]; #3)&;
gvfmt[FeynArts`FeynArtsGraphics[_][__]] = gvexec["gv", #1 <> ".ps", #2, "PS"]&;
_gvfmt = gvexec["evince", #1 <> ".pdf", #2, "PDF"]&;
gv = gvfmt[#1]["/tmp/gv" <> ToString[Hash[#1]], #1]&;
$DisplayFunction = gv
]
FeynEdit is an editor for Feynman diagrams. It is quite similar to the FeynArts topology editor and also uses FeynArts' LaTeX format for the diagrams. The program is independent of FeynArts, however, i.e. one does not need to start from diagrams generated by FeynArts.
The program is written in Java and should thus run on almost any platform. The Java bytecode is contained in the file FeynEdit.jar. Users with access to a reasonable (Unixish) programming environment may want to run "make" after unpacking the tar file, which produces an executable FeynEdit that can be invoked directly (e.g. from the command line). Alternately, start the program with "java -jar FeynEdit.jar".
A number of (mostly Debian-derived) Linux distributions seem to have gij (GNU's Java interpreter) installed instead of the original Oracle JRE. This may lead to error messages like "Failed to load Main-Class manifest attribute" when invoking FeynEdit. The problems originate from gij rather than FeynEdit. The solution is to install Oracle's original JRE, available from https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp.
Windows users should be able to start the program by double-clicking on the jar file. The Java Runtime Environment can be obtained from https://www.java.com if not installed already.
FeynEdit has been published in Comput. Phys. Commun. 179 (2008) 931 [arXiv:0711.1345].
You can download the following files:
- FeynEdit-1.0.tar.gz [495 kB] of 17 Oct 2011
Thanks for looking in.
Please send bug reports, suggestions, fan mail, etc. to Thomas Hahn, hahn@feynarts.de.
Related links: FormCalc, FeynCalc, LoopTools.
This site and the programs offered here are not commercial.
FeynArts is and will stay an open-source package and free of charge.
If you want to use FeynArts in a commercial application, make sure
you understand the GNU
Lesser General Public License under which FeynArts is
distributed.
FeynArts is being developed at the
Max Planck Institute for Physics
in Munich.
Data protection statement and Imprint
Last update: 27 Mar 25 Thomas Hahn