1 ANNALS OF GEOPHYSICS, 66, 2023;doi:10.4401/ag-8936 OPEN ACCESS Large Earthquakes Recurrence Time in the Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone (KTFZ), Greece: Results from a physics-based simulator approach Christos Kourouklas *,1 , Rodolfo Console 2,3 , Eleftheria Papadimitriou 1 , Vasileios Karakostas 1 and Maura Murru 3 (1) Geophysics Department, School of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GR54124 Thessaloniki, Greece (2) Center of Integrated Geomorphology for the Mediterranean Area (CGIAM), Potenza, Italy (3) Istituto Nazionale di Geofsica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy Article history: received January 13, 2023; accepted August 9, 2023 Abstract Large earthquakes mean recurrence time (T r ) on specifc fault segments is one of the primary input parameters for developing long-term Earthquake Rupture Forecast (ERF) models in a specifc time span considering either a time-independent or an elastic rebound motivated renewal assumption. An attempt is made to defne Tr on the major fault segments comprised in Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone (KTFZ), which is an active boundary demarcating from the west the area of central Ionian Islands, namely Lefkada and Kefalonia, and is associated with remarkably high seismic activity. Frequent large (M w ≥ 6.0) earthquakes are reported to have caused severe damage during the last six centuries. Although the number of large earthquakes (including both historical and instrumental) is satisfactory enough for regional hazard studies, their number become very limited when they are subdivided into subsets assigned to specifc fault segments. Physics-based earthquake simulators are approaches to overcome recurrence intervals shortage, due to their ability to generate long lasting earthquake catalogs. The application of a physics-based simulatorn the KTFZ, is attemped upon a detailed fault network model and implemented multiple times and with a wide range of input parameters, aiming at the defnition of the most representative simulated catalog in respect to the observed regional seismicity. The most representative simulated catalog is fnally used for investigating the recurrence behavior of large (M w ≥ 6.0) earthquakes and assessing whether the renewal model performs better that the Poisson model, after considering both individual and multiple ruptured segments scenarios. Keywords: Physics-based earthquake simulator; Fault Interaction; Large Earthquakes Recurrence Time; Statistical Analysis; Kefalonia Transform Fault Zone, Greece