A Handy Tool for History Keeping of Geant4 Tracks -- J4HistoryKeeper --

TL;DR

J4HistoryKeeper is a C++ software tool designed to efficiently track particle histories within Geant4, aiding in detector optimization and performance analysis for particle physics experiments.

Contribution

The paper introduces J4HistoryKeeper, a novel tool for history keeping of particle tracks in Geant4, with features for memory management at geometrical boundaries.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated on a generic detector model

Enables detailed track history analysis for PFA optimization

Supports memory-efficient track management at boundaries

Abstract

The Particle Flow Analysis (PFA) is currently under intense studies as the most promising way to achieve precision jet energy measurements required at the future linear $e^+e^-$ collider. In order to optimize detector configurations and to tune up the PFA it is crucial to identify factors that limit the PFA performance and clarify the fundamental limits on the jet energy resolution that remain even with the perfect PFA and an infinitely granular calorimeter. This necessitates a tool to connect each calorimeter hit in particle showers to its parent charged track, if any, and eventually all the way back to its corresponding primary particle, while identifying possible interactions and decays along the way. In order to realize this with a realistic memory space, we have developed a set of C++ classes that facilitates history keeping of particle tracks within the framework of Geant4. This software tool, hereafter called J4HistoryKeeper, comes in handy in particular when one needs to stop this history keeping for memory space economy at multiple geometrical boundaries beyond which a particle shower is expected to start. In this paper this software tool is described and applied to a generic detector model to demonstrate its functionality.