Insights into Au+Au Collision Dynamics at RHIC Using Cosmic Ray Monte Carlo Models

We present a comparative analysis of the transverse momentum (𝑝𝑇) spectra of identified hadrons(𝜋±, 𝐾±, and 𝑝/𝑝¯) produced in Au+Au collisions at √𝑠𝑁𝑁 = 7.7 GeV using Monte Carlo event generators EPOSLHC, EPOS4, and Pythia8.3. The simulations are benchmarked against experimental data from the STAR detector across nine centrality classes. EPOS4 and EPOSLHC demonstrate better agreement with data, particularly due to their incorporation of hadronic rescattering and collective flow effects, which are absent in Pythia8.3. In addition, we extract freeze-out parameters using the Tsallis distribution, offering insight into the thermodynamic behavior of the produced system. Our results provide important guidance for improving hadronic interaction models used in cosmic ray air shower simulations.