Modelling hadronic interactions in HEP MC generators

Abstract

HEP event generators aim to describe high-energy collisions in full exclusive detail. They combine perturbative matrix elements and parton showers with dynamical models of less well-understood phenomena such as hadronization, diffraction, and the so-called underlying event. We briefly summarise some of the main concepts relevant to the modelling of soft/inclusive hadron interactions in MC generators, in particular PYTHIA, with emphasis on questions recently highlighted by LHC data.

arXiv comment6 pages. Prepared in the context of the 18th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, CERN, 2014