CERN Accelerating science

2021 Planned Features

Items in this list are related to developments scheduled for the current year.
Fixes, studies and maintenance items, as well as normal testing, Q/A tasks are not mentioned here, as part of routine activity

NOTE: Items marked with (*) may or may not be achieved in 2021.

 

Configuration & Software Management

  • Enabling of C++17 as minimum ISO C++ Standard - (1)
  • Review mandatory and optional compiler flags needed to build and link to Geant4 - (1)
  • Replacement of Boost.Python for binding with pybind11 - (1)
  • Provide pkg-config scripts for use by non-CMake build tools - (1)
  • Removal of deprecated GNUmake build system - (1)
  • Enabling of Tasking Framework as default concurrency scheme - (1)/(2)
  • Full support of Apple Silicon chips on macOS - (1)/(2)
  • Modularisation of Geant4 Libraries - (1)/(2)
  • Integration of VecGeom as external package - (1)/(2)
  • Build and Publication of Docker/Singularity Images for Geant4 Releases - (2)
  • Review need for dedicated sequential only build mode, supporting sequential applications fully through Tasking Framework - (2)
  • Simplified implementation and use of G4Allocator - (2)
  • Review access patterns and interfaces for data libraries, evaluate API and format changes - (2)

 

Electromagnetic physics & optical processes

  • Infrastructure:
    • Exploit C++17 features in EM libraries where advantageous - (1)
    • Removal of obsolete interfaces and classes, improved public interfaces - (1)
    • Introduction of gamma linear polarisation option for HEP and low-energy EM physics configuration - (1)/(2)
  • High Energy Physics models:
    • Improvement to Urban model of fluctuations - (1)
    • Review of model for sampling fluctuations of e+- and considering an alternative - (1)/(2)
    • Extension to energy limit for positron annihilation to hadrons - (1)/(2)
    • Evaluation of new ion ionisation models for moderate and high energies, providing ICRU73 and ICRU90 data driven model at low energy and a smooth transition to the Linhard-Sorensen model at high energy - (2)
    • Evaluation of new ion energy fluctuations model - (2)
    • Introduction of Bremsstrahlung on atomic electrons at high and moderate energies with triplet production - (2)
    • Addition of tau pair production by positrons - (2)
  • Low Energy Physics models:
    • Introduction of discrete Gold ionisation models - (1)
    • Introduction of simulation of photon entanglement - (1)/(2)
    • Introduction of ANSTO data libraries and cross-sections - (1)/(2)
    • Validation of PIXE cross-sections versus data for protons, alpha, and carbon ions - (1)/(2)
    • Review and extension of MicroElec models - (1)/(2)
    • Introduction of full set of models based on EPICS2017 - (2)
    • New model of the three gamma annihilation - (2)
    • New very low-energy photo-electric effect model - (2)
  • Optical photon processes and X-ray physics:
    • Caching of material property values in optical processes - (1)
    • Cleanup of user interface to material property tables - (1)
    • Inclusion of a selection of optical material properties - (2)
    • Integration of Opticks package on GPUs with new extended example - (2)
  • DNA physics & chemistry
    • Validation of CPA100 models for adenine, guanine, cytasine, thymine - (1)
    • Improvements to DNA physics model - (1)/(2)
    • Extension of proton ionisation model above 100 MeV - (1)/(2)
    • Pre-chemical stage and DNA damage chain - (1)/(2)
    • Extension of Geant4-DNA to FLASH radiotherapy, including novel chemistry approach - (1)/(2)
    • Development of transport of chemical ions in magnetic field - (1)/(2)
    • Electron CPA100 models for dexoribose and phosphate - (2)
    • Extension of relativistic electron ionisation model up to 10 MeV - (2)
    • Development of family of Gillespie models - (2)
    • Implementation of N2 and C3H8 gas cross-sections for electrons down to 10 eV - (2)
  • R & D:
    • Evaluation and extension of General process approach - (1)
    • Evaluation of G4HepEm project for integration in Geant4; addition of multiple-scattering and gamma processes; support for R&D targeting GPU - (1)/(2)
    • Extensions to dark matter particle interactions - (1)/(2)
  • Validation & Testing:
    • Integration of DNA physics-lists in some geant-val tests - (1)
    • Extended validation of HGCal example and integration in geant-val - (1)/(2)
    • Introduction of new tests in geant-val for radioactive decay, nuclear medicine and x-ray radiotherapy - (1)/(2)

 

Geometry

  • Interface with navigator based on VecGeom - (1)
  • Separate safety computation and its state from navigator - (1)/(2)
  • Revision of the transportation processes; specialised transportation processes for neutral and charged particles - (1)/(2)
  • Addition of QSS integration methods (Quantized State Simulation) - (1)/(2)
  • Review accuracy of boundary crossing in field - (1)/(2)
  • Enable VecGeom shapes as default - (1)/(2)
  • Review adoption of workspaces for task-based parallelism - (1)/(2)
  • Prototype of navigation indexing class - (2)​

​

Hadronic Physics

  • Cross-sections
    • Improvement of light-ion nuclear cross-sections - (1)/(2)
    • Revision of anti-baryon and light anti-ion nuclear cross-sections - (1)/(2)
    • Extension of nuclear cross-sections for light hyper-nuclei and anti-hyper-nuclei projectiles - (1)/(2)
  • String Models
    • Improvement of antiproton and light anti-ion annihilations in FTF - (1)/(2)
    • Study of Pt-correlations of hadrons in p-p and pbar-p collisions in FTF and comparison with other models: UrQMD , QGSM , PYTHIA - (1)/(2)
    • Hadronic shower improvements of FTF and QGS models - (1)/(2)
  • Intra-nuclear Cascade models
    • Development for light targets in Bertini Cascade - (1)/(2)
    • Code review and improvements to Binary Cascade - (1)/(2)
    • Upgrade and maintenance of Liege (INCL++) model - (1)/(2)
    • Improvements of ABLA++ model in the production of hyper-nuclei - (1)/(2)
  • Precompound/de-excitation Models
    • Improvements of de-excitation models: FermiBreakUp, Evaporation, GEM; validation and tuning to data - (1)/(2)
    • Extended validation and tuning of cross section and final-state for the gamma-nuclear model - (1)/(2)
  • Radioactive Decay Model
    • Treatment of super-heavy elements - (1)/(2)
  • High Precision (HP) Models
    • Improvements for nuclear-fusion applications - (1)/(2)
    • Production of Lithium nuclear data libraries, verification and validation - (1)/(2)
    • Implementation of an option for forcing ParticleHP to respect event-by-event conservations (energy-momentum, baryonic number, etc.) - (1)/(2)
    • Extension of ParticleHP model to higher energies - (1)/(2)
    • Implementation of very detailed physics for organic neutron detectors up to 100-200 MeV - (1)/(2)
    • Introduction of NuDEX, to generate EM de-excitation cascades - (1)/(2)
    • Tool for automatically change charged particle cross-sections adding user experimental data - (1)/(2)
  • Low Energy Neutron Data Model
    • New reference physics-list using LEND. Update GIDI/LEND interface - (1)/(2)
    • Implementation of a new version of MCGIDI, and incorporation in LEND - (1)/(2)
  • NCrystal Model
    • Addition of new physics (HighNESS project) and technical improvements - (1)/(2)
  • Hadronic Framework
    • Revision/removal of obsolete classes and interfaces, and update of existing models - (1)/(2)
    • Extension of the hadronic framework for light hyper-nuclei and anti-hyper-nuclei - (1)/(2)
    • Revision of CreatorModelID - (1)/(2)
  • Validation & other models
    • Extend validation of charm production for FTF and QGS - (1)/(2)
    • Validation of FTF nucleus-nucleus interactions - (1)/(2)
    • Interface of tests in geant-val - (1)/(2)
    • Hadronic validation with BNL and MIPS data, and with the new high-granularity CMS calorimeter test-beam - (1)/(2)
    • Monitoring and documentation of physics lists with the focus on Intensity Frontier (IF) experiments - (1)/(2)
    • Study sensitivity of MC predictions to the variations of parameters for FTF/BERT/Pre-compound models - (1)/(2)
    • Investigation on the adoption of external decayers - (1)/(2)
  • Development and validation of neutrino/lepton – nuclear physics - (1)/(2)
  • Maintenance and investigation of possible extension of QMD model - (1)/(2)
  • Developments to muonic atom physics - (1)/(2)
  • Electromagnetic Dissociation (ED) model: clean-up and inclusion in physics-lists as an option - (1)/(2)

 

Materials, Generic Processes and Parameterisations

  • Fast Simulation
    • Modernisation of EM shower parametrisation, including automated tuning procedures - (1)/(2)
    • Implementation of example of ML inference using external libraries for calorimetry fast simulation - (1)/(2)
  • Geometry Biasing & Importance
    • Merging of some examples with generic biasing - (1)/(2)
  • Generic Biasing
    • Enrich event biasing options: DXTRAN-like biasing, implicit capture, occurrence biasing of charged particles with cross-section changing over the step, AMS (Adaptive Multilevel Splitting) - (1)/(2)
    • Extend generic biasing scheme for at rest case - (1)/(2)
    • Implementation of a statistical test suite to verify correctness of biased wrt analogue simulation - (1)/(2)
  • Materials
    • Removal of obsolete interfaces and improvements - (1)/(2)
  • Reverse Monte-Carlo
    • Migration to multi-threading and improvements - (1)/(2)
    • Proton simulation validation - (1)/(2)
    • Heavy ions simulation - (1)/(2)

 

Particles & Track

  • Performance improvements and code readability - (1)/(2)

 

Persistency & Analysis

  • Regular maintenance & extensions to GDML - (1)/(2)
  • Integration of g4tools/plotting in the G4/vis and UI system - (1)/(2)
  • Investigation for a complete move from the output specific managers to G4GenericAnalysisManager - (1)/(2)
  • Support for multiple files and multiple output types for n-tuples - (1)/(2)
  • Addition of flexibility in resetting/deleting histograms - (1)/(2)
  • Review support for writing the same histogram/profile in a file several times (object versions) - (1)/(2)

 

Physics Lists

  • Physics lists validation using test-beam simulations - (1)/(2)
  • Support for changing of model parameters in validation tools - (1)/(2)
  • Further developments/updates to geant-val portal - (1)/(2)
  • Migration of the Validation Database (VDB aka DoSSiER) data to new database - (1)/(2)
  • Recommendation/documentation of physics-lists for specific use cases - (1)/(2)
  • Review of physics lists code - (1)/(2)
  • Produce graphs showing overlap of physics models - (1)/(2)
  • Introduction of hyper-nuclei treatment for EM and hadronic physics in physics-list - (1)/(2)
  • Documentation of physics lists examples - (1)/(2)
  • Clean-up and reorganisation of the DNA physics-lists and combination of standard EM physics with DNA physics - (2)

​

Run, Event, Detector Response & Scoring

  • Enhancements to command-based scoring and new example to demonstrate new features - (1)/(2)
  • Finalize task-based parallelism and deploy production release - (2)
  • Prototype of sub-event level parallelism and determine usability - (2)
  • Reconsider and revisit production thresholds - (2)/(*)
  • Implementation of a phase-space file interface to GPS - (2)/(*)

 

Tracking

  • Code review and performance improvements - (1)/(2)
  • Re-design and implementation of G4ForceConditions - (1)/(2)

 

User and Category Interfaces

  • Python interface: drop Python2 codes - (1)/(2)
  • Python interface: change binding tool from boost-c++ to pybind11 - (1)/(2)
  • Parallel UI command dispatcher using ZeroMQ as an alternative MPI (experimental) - (1)/(2)

 

Visualisation and Graphics Representations

  • OpenGL drivers:
    • Improvements to toolbar in OpenGL Qt - (1)
    • Study code signing/notarising issues for using OpenGL from Geant4-based applications on MacOS - (1)/(2)
    • Investigate a way to switch from OpenGL to other technology - (1)/(2)
    • OGLFile to produce image files in batch jobs where no graphics card is present - (2)
    • Adapt to newer OpenGL versions, exploit new functionalities and replace deprecated calls such as glBegin/glEnd - (2)/(*)
  • Other drivers:
    • Removal of Wt and Xaw deprecated drivers - (1)
    • Refinements and extensions to the OpenInventor Qt Viewer - (1)/(2)
    • Improvements and further developments to native Qt3D driver - (1)/(2)
    • New tools_sg (TSG) driver based on g4tools - (2)/(*)
    • Development of visualisation solutions for iOS and Android devices - (*)
  • Implication of the Qt license changes (https://www.qt.io/blog/qt-offering-changes-2020) - (1)/(2)
  • Integrate g4tools/plotting in Geant4 UI system - (1)/(2)
  • Updates to gMocrenFile and gMocren to support visualization attributes and other information - (*)

 

Advanced Examples

  • Code review and coding guidelines - (1)/(2)
  • Improvement of the webpage and documentation - (1)/(2)
  • Measurements of software metrics and statistical analysis over the examples - (1)/(2)
  • Development of alternative approaches for LET calculation in hadrontherapy - (1)/(2)/(*)
  • Removal of no longer maintained examples - (2)
  • Migration to sub-event parallelism where possible - (2)
  • Exploit C++17 features where advantageous - (2)
  • New example for nanomedicine (gold nanoparticles in X-ray radiotherapy) - (2)/(*)
  • New example showing how to import in Geant4 simulations IAEA Phase Space Files - (2)/(*)

​

Novice & Extended Examples

  • Removal of visTutor in Basic/B4 example - (1)
  • New visualisation example illustrating how to create a movie - (1)
  • New example illustrating generic biasing for "DXTRAN" MCNP-like option and implicit capture - (1)/(2)
  • New extended example to demonstrate more scoring functionalities - (1)/(2)
  • New hadronic example for demonstrating decays of heavy particles - (1)/(2)
  • New radio-biology extended example - (1)/(2)
  • Integration of the Opticks package in a new extended example - (1)/(2)
  • Extended biasing examples: fix overlap among B02, B03 and GB03 examples - (1)/(2)
  • Update of selected EM/hadronic examples with usage of G4Accumulable - (1)/(2)
  • Porting of Geant4e and related example to multi-threading - (1)/(2)
  • Extension to the DICOM reader to support RT Dose format - (1)/(2)
  • Inclusion of new cross-sections for gas materials in the "icsd" Geant4-DNA example - (1)/(2)
  • Migration of examples using local SteppingVerbose class to usage of new class, G4SteppingVerboseWithUnits - (1)/(2)
  • Review of examples macros and tests (coverage of commands and use-cases) - (1)/(2)
  • Complete application of coding guidelines - (1)/(2)

Deadlines

  1. First semester - 25 June 2021
  2. Second semester - 10 December 2021

First release: 3 March 2021
Last update: 11 March 2021