Monte Carlo Tools

TL;DR

This paper provides an overview of Monte Carlo event generators used in high-energy physics experiments at colliders like the Tevatron and LHC, covering physics principles, technical methods, and recent developments.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive review of the physics models, algorithms, and recent advancements in Monte Carlo tools for collider physics.

Findings

Summarizes the physics and technical landscape of event generators.

Discusses matching of showers to hard processes.

Highlights ongoing development efforts in generator technology.

Abstract

Given the current landscape in experimental high-energy physics, these lectures are focused on applications of event generators for hadron colliders like the Tevatron and LHC. Section 2 contains a first overview of the physics picture and the generator landscape. Thereafter section 3 describes the usage of matrix elements, section 4 the important topics of initial- and final-state showers, and section 5 how showers can be matched to different hard processes. The issue of multiparton interactions and their role in mimimum-bias and underlying-event physics is introduced in section 6, followed by some comments on hadronization in section 7. The article concludes with an outlook on the ongoing generator-development work in section 8.