Global tuning of hadronic interaction models with accelerator-based and astroparticle data

Albrecht J, Becker Tjus J, Behling N, Blazek J, Bleicher M, Boelhauve J, Cazon L, Conceição R, Dembinski H, Dietrich L, Ebr J, Ellbracht J, Engel R, Fedynitch A, Fieg M, Garzelli MV, Gaudu C, Graziani G, Gutjahr P, Haungs A, Huege T, Hymon K, Hünnefeld M, Kampert KH, Kardum L, Kolk L, Korneeva N, Kröninger K, Maire A, Menjo H, Morejon L, Ostapchenko S, Paakkinen P, Pierog T, Plotko P, Prosekin A, Pyras L, Pöschl T, Rautenberg J, Reininghaus M, Rhode W, Riehn F, Roth M, Sandrock A, Sarcevic I, Schmelling M, Sigl G, Sjöstrand T, Soldin D, Unger M, Utheim M, Vícha J, Werner K, Windau ME, Zhukov V (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article, Review article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

DOI: 10.1038/s42254-025-00897-3

Abstract

In high-energy and astroparticle physics, event generators have an essential role, even in the simplest data analyses. Physical processes occurring in hadronic collisions are simulated within a Monte Carlo framework but a major challenge remains modelling of hadron dynamics at low momentum transfer, which includes the initial and final phases of every hadronic collision. Phenomenological models inspired by quantum chromodynamics used for these phases cannot guarantee completeness or correctness over the full phase space. These models usually include parameters which must be tuned to suitable experimental data. Until now, event generators have primarily been developed and tuned based on data from high-energy physics experiments at accelerators. However, in many cases, they have been found to not satisfactorily describe data from astroparticle experiments, which provide sensitivity especially to hadrons produced nearly parallel to the collision axis and cover centre-of-mass energies up to several hundred tera-electronvolts, well beyond those reached at colliders so far. Here, we address the complementarity of these two sets of data and present a roadmap for a unified tuning of event generators with accelerator-based and astroparticle data.

Involved external institutions

Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica / 中央研究院物理研究所 Taiwan (TW) Instituto Superior Técnico Portugal (PT) Lund University / Lunds universitet Sweden (SE) Monash University Australia (AU) Université de Nantes France (FR) Nagoya University / 名古屋大学 Japan (JP) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) / Akademie věd České republiky (AVČR) Czech Republic (CZ) Europäische Organisation für Kernforschung (CERN) Switzerland (CH) Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center) Germany (DE) National Institute for Nuclear Physics / Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Italy (IT) Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Germany (DE) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Germany (DE) University of Utah United States (USA) (US) Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) / Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Germany (DE) Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen Germany (DE) Université de Strasbourg (UDS) France (FR) Bergische Universität Wuppertal Germany (DE) Galician Institute of High Energy Physics / Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías (IGFAE) Spain (ES) Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Germany (DE) University of Arizona United States (USA) (US) Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) United States (USA) (US) Universität Hamburg (UHH) Germany (DE) Technische Universität Dortmund Germany (DE) University of Jyväskylä / Jyväskylän yliopisto Finland (FI)

How to cite

APA:

Albrecht, J., Becker Tjus, J., Behling, N., Blazek, J., Bleicher, M., Boelhauve, J.,... Zhukov, V. (2025). Global tuning of hadronic interaction models with accelerator-based and astroparticle data. Nature Reviews Physics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-025-00897-3

MLA:

Albrecht, J., et al. "Global tuning of hadronic interaction models with accelerator-based and astroparticle data." Nature Reviews Physics (2025).

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