Performance of Muon-Based Triggers at the CMS High Level Trigger

Abstract: The trigger systems of the CERN LHC detectors play a crucial role in determining the physics capabilities of the experiments. A reduction of several orders of magnitude of the event rate is needed to reach values compatible with the detector readout, offline storage and analysis capabilities. The CMS experiment has been designed with a two-level trigger system: the Level 1 (L1) Trigger, implemented on custom-designed electronics, and the High Level Trigger (HLT), a streamlined version of the CMS reconstruction and analysis software running on a computer farm. Here we will present the design and performance of the main muon triggers used during the Run I data taking. We will show how these triggers contributed to the 2012 physics results. We will then present the improvements foreseen to meet the challenges of the Run II data taking. We will discuss the improvements being made at L1, and at various stages in the HLT reconstruction, ranging from the local drift tube and cathode strip chamber reconstruction, to L2 muon tracks, to the final L3 muons.