Background of the Project Maria Grazia Pia INFN

Background of the Project Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova http: //www. ge. infn. it/geant 4/dna CERN, 26 July 2004 Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

A project born from a fertile ground… Geant 4 – An object oriented Toolkit for the simulation of the passage of particles trough matter Complementary activities – Developments in Geant 4 – Applications of Geant 4 – Experimental measurements Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Object Oriented The software technology adopted makes Geant 4 a system open to extension, close to modification – – New extensions do not affect the existing code at all The system can evolve to accommodate § new requirements § new domains § new models and their implementations § new kinds of applications without perturbing the existing domains, implementations, applications… Thanks to Geant 4 design, it is easy to conceive – – – new geometries, new materials, new “particles” (cell, DNA…) new processes (physical, chemical, bio-chemical, biological…) new concepts not encompassed by Geant 4 subsystems yet and to design and implement them in the existing architecture (well… easy does not mean by magic!) Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Toolkit A toolkit is a system consisting of weakly coupled components – The user can use what he/she needs out of the toolkit, without worrying about what he/she does not need Adding new components is easy – Communicate with other components through a well defined interface Extending the functionality of Geant 4 to cover new domains is facilitated by the Toolkit nature of Geant 4 – – – Add new components Need any extension/modification within existing components? Are the current interfaces sufficient? complete? Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Experience in the group Quantitative process measurements – – Extension of Geant 4 Low. E electromagnetic package by re-engineering the whole Penelope physics (i. e. a whole Monte Carlo code) 1 graduate student, with no background in OOP nor C++, working ~20% of his time alone at L’Aquila Sound package design 6 months from joining the Collaboration to public code release Iterative and incremental process – First cycle provided full functionality through intermediate release steps § Photon process + Bremsstrahlung + positron annihilation + ionisation – Next design iteration: mix and match process components Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Geant 4 Physics A rich set of processes and models to handle the interactions of particles with matter – One of the most active areas of Geant 4, still under development Low Energy electromagnetic extensions – – First general purpose Monte Carlo system to go below 1 ke. V Precise dosimetry, applications in space science and bio-medical physics Extensive test and validation – see Michela’s talk Further extensions to lower energies to be explored – – not easy! how to validate them? Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities Geant 4 Low Energy Electromagnetic Physics Geant 4 Test & Analysis Project – – Geant 4 physics testing Statistical Toolkit Medical applications: radiotherapy Space science Experimental activity in collaborating groups Geant 4 -DNA Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: Low. E Physics Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: Test & Analysis Project Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: physics validation More in Michela’s talk Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: Toolkit for statistical data analysis (comparison of distributions) Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: dosimetry for radiotherapy Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova Catana Group, INFN LNS

Complementary activities: REMSIM - radioprotection of astronauts Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities: space environment generator interfaced to Geant 4 New project, starting Susanna’s Ph. D Thesis Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Complementary activities Experimental activities of Geant 4 user groups – – See talks by Sébastien Incerti, Gérard Montarou Cellular irradiation at INFN Legnaro Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova

Profits of complementary experience and developments in other projects Provides requirements to other projects Maria Grazia Pia, INFN Genova