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The purpose of FeynCalc is to push the overall progress in calculational quantum field theory. FeynCalc already provides a powerful set of calculational tools and is now being developed in an open source framework in order to speed up development and bug-fixing.
The first version of FeynCalc (see Comp. Phys. Comm. 60 (1991) 165) arose out of the need to calculate one-loop scattering processes in the electro-weak Standard Model of particle physics: Such calculations involve tedious and repetuous evaluation of many Feynman diagrams which are easily hampered by trivial mistakes. FeynCalc addresses this issue by providing tools for standard operations in Feynman diagram calculations. The aim is clear: To shorten the way from the conception of a theoretical model to actual calculations by not having to reinvent the wheel for each model.
It is also clear that a standardized Mathematica notation for the objects in quantum field theory and the different models is very important. Many people use Mathematica for quantum field theory calculations, but all use different symbols, conventions for functions, etc. FeynCalc aims to provide a coherent general framework, the adaption of which, enables different groups of researchers to easily exchange and collaborate on calculations.
Over the years, many tools for calculations in QCD and OPE have been included, reflecting the interests of the author. Also, support for ChPT has been contributed as an extra module.
We regard it as important that a standardized notation has emerged for quantities like quantum fields, momenta, Dirac algebraic quantities, SU(N) algebraic quantities, etc.
As of version 4.1, FeynCalc has a modularized structure allowing new models and tools to be added easily and to have several developers each responsible for their part of FeynCalc.
1) More calculations; which should be committed back to the web site www.feyncalc.org for others to learn from and debug.
2) More documentation, including documentation of all subpackages.
3) More two-loop support.
4) More field-theory models.
The implementation of FeynCalc was originally a one-person project by Rolf Mertig. However, it has become clear that fulfilling the goals set for this project exceeds the capabilities of one person. Therefore FeynCalc has been open-sourced. Another developer, Frederik Orellana, has volunteered, and FeynCalc has been put into a CVS repository at www.feyncalc.org. People interested in contributing can contact the developers at feyncalc AT feyncalc.org.