Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 15: Heavy-Ion Collisions and QCD Phases II

HK 15.8: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 18:00–18:15, PHIL C 601

Event Generator Comparison for Centrality Studies in Heavy-Ion Collisions at FAIR Energies — •Beatriz Artur — IKF, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

The initial geometry of a relativistic heavy-ion collision greatly influences important observables of the strongly interacting matter, such as collective flow or event-by-event fluctuations of conserved quantities. Experimentally, it cannot be measured directly, so other observables have to be used as a proxy. The multiplicity of produced charged particles at mid-rapidity or the energy deposition of the forward-going spectator particles can be used, for instance. In this work, we compare different event generators, such as PHQMD, DCM-QGSM-SMM and SMASH+afterburner for centrality studies. We look specifically into the fragment production in the forward direction, since all models employ different methods for cluster production. Implications on an optimized strategy for centrality determination and consequent definition of the reaction volume will be discussed.

Keywords: Cluster production; Spectators; Centrality; PHQMD; DCM