hep-ph/0603175
LU TP 06-13
FERMILAB-PUB-06-052-CD-T
March 2006

PYTHIA  6.4

Physics and Manual

Torbjörn Sjöstrand
Department of Theoretical Physics, Lund University,
Sölvegatan 14A, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden
E-mail: torbjorn@thep.lu.se

Stephen Mrenna
Computing Division, Simulations Group, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,
MS 234, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
E-mail: mrenna@fnal.gov

Peter Skands
Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,
MS 106, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
E-mail: skands@fnal.gov

Abstract

The PYTHIA program can be used to generate high-energy-physics `events', i.e. sets of outgoing particles produced in the interactions between two incoming particles. The objective is to provide as accurate as possible a representation of event properties in a wide range of reactions, within and beyond the Standard Model, with emphasis on those where strong interactions play a rôle, directly or indirectly, and therefore multihadronic final states are produced. The physics is then not understood well enough to give an exact description; instead the program has to be based on a combination of analytical results and various QCD-based models. This physics input is summarized here, for areas such as hard subprocesses, initial- and final-state parton showers, underlying events and beam remnants, fragmentation and decays, and much more. Furthermore, extensive information is provided on all program elements: subroutines and functions, switches and parameters, and particle and process data. This should allow the user to tailor the generation task to the topics of interest.
The code and further information may be found on the PYTHIA web page:
http://www.thep.lu.se/$\sim$torbjorn/Pythia.html.

Dedicated to

the Memory of


Bo Andersson


1937 - 2002

originator, inspirator