Contributor info: Dr Ilkka Helenius

Jonathan Butterworth, Ilkka Helenius, Juan Jose Juan Castella, Bradley Pattengale, Shahzad Sanjrani, Matthew Wing

SciPost Phys. 17, 158 (2024) · published 9 December 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Modelling the underlying event in high-energy hadronic collisions is important for physics at colliders. This includes lepton colliders, where low-virtuality photons accompanying the lepton beam(s) may develop hadronic structure. Similarly, photon-induced collisions also occur in proton or heavy-ion beam experiments. While the underlying event in proton-proton collisions has been the subject of much study at the LHC, studies of hadronic-photon-induced underlying event are now of increasing interest in light of planned future lepton and lepton-hadron colliders, as well as the photon-induced processes in ultra-peripheral collisions at the LHC. Here we present an investigation of the underlying event in photon-initiated processes, starting from the Pythia models used to describe LHC and Tevatron data, and revisiting HERA and LEP2 data. While no single tune describes all the data with different beam configurations, we find that a good agreement can still be found within the same model by adjusting the relevant parameters separately for $\gamma\gamma$, $\gamma p$ and $pp$. This suggests that the basic model of multiparton interaction implemented in Pythia can be applied for different beam configurations. Furthermore, we find that a reasonable agreement for $\gamma\gamma$ and $\gamma p$ data, and for $pp$ data at an LHC reference energy, can be found within a single parametrization, but $pp$ collisions would prefer a stronger energy dependence, leading to too many multiparton interactions in lower energy photon-induced collisions. On this basis, we make some recommendations for simulations of photon-induced processes, such as $\gamma \gamma$ events at the LHC or FCC and $ep$ or $eA$ collisions at the EIC, and suggest possibilities for improvements in the modelling.

J. M. Campbell, M. Diefenthaler, T. J. Hobbs, S. Höche, J. Isaacson, F. Kling, S. Mrenna, J. Reuter, S. Alioli, J. R. Andersen, C. Andreopoulos, A. M. Ankowski, E. C. Aschenauer, A. Ashkenazi, M. D. Baker, J. L. Barrow, M. van Beekveld, G. Bewick, S. Bhattacharya, C. Bierlich, E. Bothmann, P. Bredt, A. Broggio, A. Buckley, A. Butter, J. M. Butterworth, E. P. Byrne, C. M. Carloni-Calame, S. Chakraborty, X. Chen, M. Chiesa, J. T. Childers, J. Cruz-Martinez, J. Currie, N. Darvishi, M. Dasgupta, A. Denner, F. A. Dreyer, S. Dytman, B. K. El-Menoufi, T. Engel, S. Ferrario Ravasio, D. Figueroa, L. Flower, J. R. Forshaw, R. Frederix, A. Friedland, S. Frixione, H. Gallagher, K. Gallmeister, S. Gardiner, R. Gauld, J. Gaunt, A. Gavardi, T. Gehrmann, A. Gehrmann-De Ridder, L. Gellersen, W. Giele, S. Gieseke, F. Giuli, E. W. N. Glover, M. Grazzini, A. Grohsjean, C. Gütschow, K. Hamilton, T. Han, R. Hatcher, G. Heinrich, I. Helenius, O. Hen, V. Hirschi, M. Höfer, J. Holguin, A. Huss, P. Ilten, S. Jadach, A. Jentsch, S. P. Jones, W. Ju, S. Kallweit, A. Karlberg, T. Katori, M. Kerner, W. Kilian, M. M. Kirchgaeßer, S. Klein, M. Knobbe, C. Krause, F. Krauss, J. Lang, J. -N. Lang, G. Lee, S. W. Li, M. A. Lim, J. M. Lindert, D. Lombardi, L. Lönnblad, M. Löschner, N. Lurkin, Y. Ma, P. Machado, V. Magerya, A. Maier, I. Majer, F. Maltoni, M. Marcoli, G. Marinelli, M. R. Masouminia, P. Mastrolia, O. Mattelaer, J. Mazzitelli, J. McFayden, R. Medves, P. Meinzinger, J. Mo, P. F. Monni, G. Montagna, T. Morgan, U. Mosel, B. Nachman, P. Nadolsky, R. Nagar, Z. Nagy, D. Napoletano, P. Nason, T. Neumann, L. J. Nevay, O. Nicrosini, J. Niehues, K. Niewczas, T. Ohl, G. Ossola, V. Pandey, A. Papadopoulou, A. Papaefstathiou, G. Paz, M. Pellen, G. Pelliccioli, T. Peraro, F. Piccinini, L. Pickering, J. Pires, W. Placzek, S. Plätzer, T. Plehn, S. Pozzorini, S. Prestel, C. T. Preuss, A. C. Price, S. Quackenbush, E. Re, D. Reichelt, L. Reina, C. Reuschle, P. Richardson, M. Rocco, N. Rocco, M. Roda, A. Rodriguez Garcia, S. Roiser, J. Rojo, L. Rottoli, G. P. Salam, M. Schönherr, S. Schuchmann, S. Schumann, R. Schürmann, L. Scyboz, M. H. Seymour, F. Siegert, A. Signer, G. Singh Chahal, A. Siódmok, T. Sjöstrand, P. Skands, J. M. Smillie, J. T. Sobczyk, D. Soldin, D. E. Soper, A. Soto-Ontoso, G. Soyez, G. Stagnitto, J. Tena-Vidal, O. Tomalak, F. Tramontano, S. Trojanowski, Z. Tu, S. Uccirati, T. Ullrich, Y. Ulrich, M. Utheim, A. Valassi, A. Verbytskyi, R. Verheyen, M. Wagman, D. Walker, B. R. Webber, L. Weinstein, O. White, J. Whitehead, M. Wiesemann, C. Wilkinson, C. Williams, R. Winterhalder, C. Wret, K. Xie, T-Z. Yang, E. Yazgan, G. Zanderighi, S. Zanoli, K. Zapp

SciPost Phys. 16, 130 (2024) · published 24 May 2024 | Toggle abstract · pdf

We provide an overview of the status of Monte-Carlo event generators for high-energy particle physics. Guided by the experimental needs and requirements, we highlight areas of active development, and opportunities for future improvements. Particular emphasis is given to physics models and algorithms that are employed across a variety of experiments. These common themes in event generator development lead to a more comprehensive understanding of physics at the highest energies and intensities, and allow models to be tested against a wealth of data that have been accumulated over the past decades. A cohesive approach to event generator development will allow these models to be further improved and systematic uncertainties to be reduced, directly contributing to future experimental success. Event generators are part of a much larger ecosystem of computational tools. They typically involve a number of unknown model parameters that must be tuned to experimental data, while maintaining the integrity of the underlying physics models. Making both these data, and the analyses with which they have been obtained accessible to future users is an essential aspect of open science and data preservation. It ensures the consistency of physics models across a variety of experiments.

Christian Bierlich, Smita Chakraborty, Nishita Desai, Leif Gellersen, Ilkka Helenius, Philip Ilten, Leif Lönnblad, Stephen Mrenna, Stefan Prestel, Christian T. Preuss, Torbjörn Sjöstrand, Peter Skands, Marius Utheim, Rob Verheyen

SciPost Phys. Codebases 8 (2022) · published 10 November 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

This manual describes the Pythia event generator, the most recent version of an evolving physics tool used to answer fundamental questions in particle physics. The program is most often used to generate high-energy-physics collision "events", i.e. sets of particles produced in association with the collision of two incoming high-energy particles, but has several uses beyond that. The guiding philosophy is to produce and re-produce properties of experimentally obtained collisions as accurately as possible. The program includes a wide ranges of reactions within and beyond the Standard Model, and extending to heavy ion physics. Emphasis is put on phenomena where strong interactions play a major role. The manual contains both pedagogical and practical components. All included physics models are described in enough detail to allow the user to obtain a cursory overview of used assumptions and approximations, enabling an informed evaluation of the program output. A number of the most central algorithms are described in enough detail that the main results of the program can be reproduced independently, allowing further development of existing models or the addition of new ones. Finally, a chapter dedicated fully to the user is included towards the end, providing pedagogical examples of standard use cases, and a detailed description of a number of external interfaces. The program code, the online manual, and the latest version of this print manual can be found on the Pythia web page: https://www.pythia.org/.

Christian Bierlich, Smita Chakraborty, Nishita Desai, Leif Gellersen, Ilkka Helenius, Philip Ilten, Leif Lönnblad, Stephen Mrenna, Stefan Prestel, Christian T. Preuss, Torbjörn Sjöstrand, Peter Skands, Marius Utheim, Rob Verheyen

SciPost Phys. Codebases 8-r8.3 (2022) · published 10 November 2022 | Toggle abstract · src

This manual describes the Pythia event generator, the most recent version of an evolving physics tool used to answer fundamental questions in particle physics. The program is most often used to generate high-energy-physics collision "events", i.e. sets of particles produced in association with the collision of two incoming high-energy particles, but has several uses beyond that. The guiding philosophy is to produce and re-produce properties of experimentally obtained collisions as accurately as possible. The program includes a wide ranges of reactions within and beyond the Standard Model, and extending to heavy ion physics. Emphasis is put on phenomena where strong interactions play a major role. The manual contains both pedagogical and practical components. All included physics models are described in enough detail to allow the user to obtain a cursory overview of used assumptions and approximations, enabling an informed evaluation of the program output. A number of the most central algorithms are described in enough detail that the main results of the program can be reproduced independently, allowing further development of existing models or the addition of new ones. Finally, a chapter dedicated fully to the user is included towards the end, providing pedagogical examples of standard use cases, and a detailed description of a number of external interfaces. The program code, the online manual, and the latest version of this print manual can be found on the Pythia web page: https://www.pythia.org/.

Ilkka Helenius

SciPost Phys. Proc. 8, 145 (2022) · published 14 July 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

The new framework for the simulations of hard diffractive events in photoproduction within Pythia 8 is presented. The model, originally introduced for proton-proton collisions, applies the dynamical rapidity gap survival probability based on the multiparton interaction model in Pythia. These additional interactions provide a natural explanation for the observed factorization-breaking effects in hard diffraction by filling up the rapidity gaps used to classify the events of diffractive origin. The generated cross sections are well in line with the existing data from HERA experiments and predictions for the future electron-ion collider are presented. In addition, also predictions for ultra-peripheral collisions at the LHC have been calculated where the factorization-breaking effects are found to be more pronounced.