Speaker
Description
QCD instantons are non-perturbative, topological gluon-field configurations that mediate chirality-violating processes whose experimental signature is an isotropic, flavour-democratic, high-multiplicity final state, absent from the perturbative expansion and so far unobserved. We present a new Monte Carlo generator for QCD instanton-induced processes in proton–proton collisions, filling a gap left by existing tools. QCDINS targets eletron-proton DIS, while SHERPA's instanton implementation covers only inclusive production, not diffractive topologies with large rapidity gaps. The generator implements the 't Hooft effective vertex with full numerical integration over the instanton size $\rho$ and supports four process topologies distinguished by single/double Pomeron exchange (using H1 Fit B diffractive PDFs) versus inclusive gluon-PDF production. The output is provided as LHE or HepMC3 events for downstream parton showering and hadronization. This enables realistic predictions for high-multiplicity final states (soft bombs) and jet-correlation observables, providing a tool for instanton searches at the LHC and future hadron colliders. We discuss benchmark soft-bomb observables such as multiplicity, transverse energy, sphericity, and rapidity-gap structure, emphasizing robust shapes and flavour ratios over absolute rates, which carry the well-known instanton-size uncertainty.