Event generators for high-energy physics experiments
J. M. Campbell, M. Diefenthaler, T. J. Hobbs, Stefan Höche, Joshua Isaacson, Felix Kling, S. Mrenna, J. Reuter, Simone Alioli, J. R. Andersen, C. Andreopoulos, Artur M. Ankowski, Elke Aschenauer, A. Ashkenazi, M. D. Baker, J. Barrow, Melissa van Beekveld, Gavin Bewick, S. Bhattacharya, Christian Bierlich, Enrico Bothmann, P. Bredt, A. Broggio, A. G. Buckley, Anja Butter, J. M. Butterworth, E. P. Byrne, C. M. Carloni Calame, Smita Chakraborty, Xuan Chen, Mauro Chiesa, J. T. Childers, Juan Cruz–Martinez, James Currie, Neda Darvishi, M. K. Dasgupta, Ansgar Denner, F. A. Dreyer, S. Dytman, Basem Kamal El-Menoufi, Tim Engel, Silvia Ferrario Ravasio, Daniel G. Figueroa, L. Flower, J. R. Forshaw, Rikkert Frederix, Alex Friedland, Stefano Frixione, H. Gallagher, K. Gallmeister, S. A. Gardiner, R. Gauld, Jonathan R. Gaunt, Alessandro Gavardi, T. Gehrmann, A. Gehrmann–De Ridder, Leif Gellersen, Walter T. Giele, Stefan Gieseke, F. Giuli, E. W. N. Glover, Massimiliano Grazzini, A. Grohsjean, C. Gütschow, K. Hamilton, T. Han, R. Hatcher, G. Heinrich, Ilkka Helenius, O. Hen, Valentin Hirschi, Marius Höfer, Jack Holguin, Alexander Huss, P. Ilten, S. Jadach, A. Jentsch, Stephen Jones, W. Ju, Stefan Kallweit, Alexander Karlberg, T. Katori, Matthias Kerner, C. Kilian, M. M. Kirchgaeßer, S. Klein, Max Knobbe, Claudius Krause, Frank Krauss, Jean-Nicolas Lang, J. -N Lang, G. Lee, S. W. Li, Matthew A. Lim, J. M. Lindert, Daniele Lombardi, Leif Lönnblad, M. Löschner, N. Lurkin, Yang Ma
Abstract
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.