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Enabling GPU-based optical photon simulation in Geant4

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Mentee: Felipe De Figueiredo (Long Island University)

Mentors: James Hirschauer, Hans-Joachim Wenzel (Fermilab)

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Calorimetry

  • Calorimeters are tools used to measure how much energy is deposited by a certain event.
    • Ex.: Measuring the temperature of the water before and after a chemical reaction.
  • In High Energy Physics, we find the original energy of the particle by converting it into many smaller particles,

then counting the amount that were generated.

  • We “count” these particles by measuring the�scintillation and Cherenkov radiation emitted by�the high energy particles.
  • New dual readout calorimeters improve resolution�Of hadronic particles by measuring Cherenkov and �scintillation radiation separately.

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Scintillation and Cherenkov Radiation

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  • What is Scintillation?
    • The process where materials emit EM Radiation when excited by a high energy particle.

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  • What is Cherenkov Radiation?
    • Light emitted from charged particles traveling through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium.

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Geant4 and Opticks

  • Geant4:
    • Toolkit for the simulation of particles through matter.
    • Simulates how all particles travel through the detector.
    • Requires very precise parameters (size, shape, material etc).
    • Can do photon simulation, albeit very slowly.
  • Opticks:
    • Software used with Geant4�to simulate photons by using �GPU CUDA cores.
  • CaTS (Calorimeter and Tracking Simulation)
    • Framework used for simulation of �calorimetry and tracking detectors.
    • Based on Geant4 and ROOT

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Goals for the project

  • Understand technology used:
    • Geant4, Opticks, CaTS

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  • Learn more about the underlying physics of the project:
    • Cherenkov Radiation, Scintillation, Wavelength Shifting, Calorimetry.

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  • Make a meaningful contribution to the Opticks and CaTS frameworks.

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