Accelerator Description Formats*

Being an integral part of accelerator software, accelerator description aims to provide an external representation of an accelerator’s internal model and associative effects. As a result, the choice of description formats is driven by the scope of accelerator applications and is usually implemented as a tradeoff between various requirements: completeness and extensibility, user and developer orientation, and others. Moreover, an optimal solution does not remain static but instead evolves with new project tasks and computer technologies. This talk presents an overview of several approaches, the evolution of accelerator description formats, and a comparison with similar efforts in the neighboring high-energy physics domain. Following the Accelerator-Algorithm-Probe pattern, we will conclude with the next logical step, Accelerator Propagator Description Format (APDF), providing a flexible approach for specifying associations between physical elements and evolution algorithms most appropriate for the immediate tasks.