Performance of Monte Carlo event generators of pp collisions at NICA energies

TL;DR

This paper reviews Monte Carlo event generators for proton-proton collisions at NICA energies, comparing simulations with experimental data and proposing parameter tuning to improve accuracy.

Contribution

It provides an overview of MC generators' performance at NICA energies and suggests parameter tuning for better data agreement.

Findings

extit{pythia}, extit{epos}, and extit{urqmd} simulations compared to experimental data.

Discrepancies identified between models and data, with proposed parameter adjustments.

Analysis of two-particle correlations and hadron production mechanisms.

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of Monte Carlo(MC) event generators for simulation of proton-proton collisions along with the results on hadron production at Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) energies. Namely, mean multiplicities, mean transverse momenta, and rapidity distributions of p($\bar{\rm p}$), $\pi^{\pm}$, $\mathrm{K}^{\pm}$ at different collision energies are presented. We also study two-particle angular correlations for stable charged particles. Results of simulations with \pythia, \epos, and \urqmd event generators are compared to available data. Connections of studied quantities with physics mechanisms in MC generators are discussed. We suggest a tuned set of parameters to address observed discrepancies between data and \pythia.