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The Geant4 Simulation Toolkit and Applications

For the Geant4 Collaboration

  • Conference paper
Molecular Imaging: Computer Reconstruction and Practice

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Abstract

Geant4 is a software toolkit for the simulation of the passage of particles through matter. It is used in a number of different application domains, including medical imaging and treatment, high energy physics experiments, and the assessment of radiation effects on satellites. Geant4 provides physics processes and models describing electromagnetic and hadronic interactions, and includes decay and optical processes. The energy range of processes spans from about 100eV for electrons to 10PeV for muons. Physics models are provided for electrons, positrons, gammas, hadrons, ions and optical photons. Often a choice of implementations is available for a physical process, providing different modelling approaches or a different level of approximation. Geant4 offers users a choice between prepared physics model configurations and the ability to create their own customised configuration, tailored for their requirements. Users can also choose which parts of the toolkit to utilise and assemble them, in a manner suitable for their particular application area. The Geant4 toolkit is open source, which enables its open distribution, and its incorporation into applications and frameworks. An overview of its capabilities is presented here spanning from its geometry and kernel capabilities, to its physics modelling and validation, and touching on the abilities it provides users to visualise setups and events and to configure applications interactively.

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  1. CERN, CH-1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland

    John Apostolakis

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  1. Site d’ Archamps, European Scientific Institute, Archamps, France

    Yves Lemoigne  & Alessandra Caner  & 

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Apostolakis, J. (2008). The Geant4 Simulation Toolkit and Applications. In: Lemoigne, Y., Caner, A. (eds) Molecular Imaging: Computer Reconstruction and Practice. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8752-3_5

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