Photoproduction in general-purpose event generators (2406.08026v2)

Abstract: We present a comparison of three different general-purpose Monte Carlo event generators, Herwig, Pythia, and Sherpa, with respect to the simulation of photoproduction. We outline the default inputs, implementation differences and compare the results at different stages of the event generation. We find that, despite a similar starting point, the final cross sections do have some differences related to different non-perturbative inputs. We compare the simulations with experimental data for jet production in LEP and HERA and find that all generators provide a decent desription of the data within the considered uncertainties. We also present predictions for the upcoming EIC for jet observables and event shapes and conclude that accurate simulations will require further phenomenological advances.