Probing the interaction of semi-hard quarks and gluons with the underlying event in light- and heavy-flavor triggered proton-proton collisions

We study underlying-event observables in inelastic proton-proton (pp) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √(s) = 13 TeV with identified light and heavy-flavor triggers using the PYTHIA 8 event generator. The study is performed as a function of the transverse momentum of the leading particle ( p_T^trigger ). While at high p_T^trigger ( >10 GeV/ c ) the underlying-event activity is independent of the leading particle species, at intermediate p_T^trigger ( 2More