diff --git a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarMemoryTest.h b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarMemoryTest.h
index 9042a1eb305968d0356d07a221692d03e5ba1385..fbed3f50222e0f7443c3f539612b1dd8abfaf9d4 100644
--- a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarMemoryTest.h
+++ b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarTestFixtures/ColumnarMemoryTest.h
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ namespace columnar
 
     void addColumn (const std::string& name, std::vector<std::any> data);
 
-    void setExpectation (const std::string& name, std::vector<std::any> values);
+    void setExpectation (const std::string& name, const std::vector<std::any> & values);
 
     /// @brief add the columns we have to the tool
     void connectColumnsToTool ();
diff --git a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarMemoryTest.cxx b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarMemoryTest.cxx
index 3c35ca22e174cfda8c98790b48445b1093832234..e5249576033703e578305c8beb53b4b7174b3f73 100644
--- a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarMemoryTest.cxx
+++ b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarMemoryTest.cxx
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ namespace columnar
 
 
   void ColumnarMemoryTest::ColumnMapType ::
-  setExpectation (const std::string& name, std::vector<std::any> values)
+  setExpectation (const std::string& name, const std::vector<std::any> & values)
   {
     auto column = m_columnMap.find (name);
     if (column == m_columnMap.end())
diff --git a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarPhysliteTest.cxx b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarPhysliteTest.cxx
index 8389417eb2bb4741e2cd2eaed8c6ec405bbf73ba..9183f42bd0086dc38bed034699807c3453231c45 100644
--- a/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarPhysliteTest.cxx
+++ b/PhysicsAnalysis/Columnar/ColumnarTestFixtures/Root/ColumnarPhysliteTest.cxx
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ namespace columnar
         if (iter == requestedColumns.end())
           return false;
 
-        auto offsetName = iter->second.offsetName;
+        const auto & offsetName = iter->second.offsetName;
         if (offsetName.empty())
           throw std::runtime_error ("missing offset column for: " + columnName);
 
@@ -695,6 +695,9 @@ namespace columnar
       Benchmark benchmarkGetEntry (name + " getEntry");
 
       const auto numberOfEvents = event.getEntries();
+      if (numberOfEvents == 0){
+        throw std::runtime_error ("ColumnarPhysLiteTest: numberOfEvents == 0");
+      }
       Long64_t entry = 0;
 
       // Instead of running for a fixed number of events, we run for a