PTB, Braunschweig, 22-26 June 2009
This introductory course on the Geant4 Simulation Toolkit is hosted by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) at Braunschweig; it is attended by PTB staff. Please contact the local organizer for practical details concerning the course organization.
Abstract | Programme | Lecture notes:
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Training team |
Geant4 is a software toolkit for the
simulation of the interaction of particles with matter, developed and
maintained by a world-wide collaboration of physicists and computer scientists. Its application areas include high energy physics
experiments, astrophysics and astroparticle physics, nuclear physics, space science, medical
physics and medical imaging, radiation
protection etc. It exploits software engineering techniques and the object
oriented technology to achieve transparency of the physics implementation,
as well as openness to extension and evolution. The toolkit provides
functionality for all the typical domains of detector
simulation, such as Geometry modeling, Detector Response, Run and Event
management, Tracking, Visualisation and User Interface. An abundant set of Physics Processes
handle the diverse interactions of particles with matter across a wide energy
range, as required by Geant4 multi-disciplinary nature; for many physics
processes a choice among different models is available.
The Geant4 source code and libraries are freely available, accompanied by
an extensive set of user documentation.
This course provides an overview of Geant4 capabilities and teaches how to simulate an experimental set-up; the lectures are complemented by hands-on exercises. As a result of the course the students will learn how to develop their own simulation applications based on the Geant4 toolkit.
To best profit of the course, some basic knowledge of the C++ computing language is recommended. The exercises are performed in a Linux environment.
Computing infrastructure needed for the course and Instructions how to access the PC hosting the course
The course is articulated over 5 units, each one spread across a day and
addressing a specific simulation domain.
Each unit consists of morning lectures and practical exercises in the afternoon
on the topics learned in the morning, with the exception of the last afternoon
devoted to a discussion session.
The morning and afternoon sessions are scheduled over a duration of 3 hours
approximately with a 30' tea break each and a lunch break in between.
The hands-on sessions adopt a common pattern:
Unit 1 - 19 May - The basics
This unit provides an overview of Geant4
capabilities and basic concepts of a Geant4-based simulation application.
To facilitate students not familiar with the computing technologies applied in
the course, a refresher introduction to object oriented programming and Linux
operating system is provided.
The hands-on session deals with installing Geant4 and satellite products and
guides the students to execute simple examples included in the Geant4 toolkit.
Tea break (with discussion)
Lunch
Geant4 installation - M. Sudhakar
Tea break
Novice examples - V. Grichine
Unit 2 - 20 May - How to describe an experimental set-up
Tea break
Detector
modelling 2
- V. Grichine
Lunch
Exercise: modelling an experimental configuration - V. Grichine, M.
Sudhakar
Tea break during the exercises
Unit 3 - 21 May - Physics in Geant4
This unit provides a thorough overview of the physics
processes and models available in Geant4 to simulate particle interactions with
matter.
The hands-on session shows how to select the processes and models to be active
in a user application; simple examples of physics configuration for various use
cases are exercised, pertinent to different particle types and energy ranges.
Physics 1
Tea break
Physics 2
Lunch
Exercise: selecting physics in the simulation
- V. Grichine, M. Sudhakar
Tea break during the exercise
Unit 4 - 22 May - How to retrieve information from the simulation
Tea break
Lunch
Installation of analysis tools - M. Sudhakar
Exercise: retrieving and analyzing results from the simulation - V.
Grichine, M. Sudhakar
Tea break during the exercises
Unit 5 - 23 May - Beyond the basics
This unit illustrates some additional Geant4 capabilities
beyond the basic tools illustrated in the previous lectures and shows how to run
Geant4-based simulations in parallel mode.
The short afternoon session is devoted to discussion.
Tea break
Discussion
Computing infrastructure needed for the course
Lecture notes -
PLEASE NOTE that no paper copies will be distributed during the course.
iAIDA primer - A. Lechner
Geant4 User Documentation can be browsed from the web or downloaded for printing.
The training team covers various areas of expertise in Geant4 development and applications:
Vladimir
Grichine,
Lebedev Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (currently at
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland)
Maria
Grazia Pia,
INFN Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy - Phone: +39 010
353 6328, Fax: +39 010 313358
Manju Sudhakar, INFN Sezione
di Genova, Italy
The course is based on training material by the Geant4 Collaboration, complemented by original material by the instructors listed above; in particular, thanks to K. Amako, M. Asai, G. Cosmo, A. Heikkinen, A. Howard, A. Lechner, M. Maire, Y. Morita, L. Pandola, A. Pfeiffer, T. Sasaki, S. Tanaka, M. Verderi, D. Wright, H. Yoshida.
Last update 15 giugno 2009 - Maria Grazia Pia