HEP Software Foundation Community White Paper Working Group - Detector Simulation

TL;DR

This white paper reviews the current state and future challenges of detector simulation in high-energy physics, emphasizing the need for improved accuracy and performance to support upcoming experimental programs.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the main software challenges and opportunities in HEP detector simulation, proposing a work program to enhance physics models and computational efficiency.

Findings

Current simulation applications need significant improvements.

Future goals include increasing physics accuracy and computational performance.

A detailed work program for software development is proposed.

Abstract

A working group on detector simulation was formed as part of the high-energy physics (HEP) Software Foundation's initiative to prepare a Community White Paper that describes the main software challenges and opportunities to be faced in the HEP field over the next decade. The working group met over a period of several months in order to review the current status of the Full and Fast simulation applications of HEP experiments and the improvements that will need to be made in order to meet the goals of future HEP experimental programmes. The scope of the topics covered includes the main components of a HEP simulation application, such as MC truth handling, geometry modeling, particle propagation in materials and fields, physics modeling of the interactions of particles with matter, the treatment of pileup and other backgrounds, as well as signal processing and digitisation. The resulting work programme described in this document focuses on the need to improve both the software performance and the physics of detector simulation. The goals are to increase the accuracy of the physics models and expand their applicability to future physics programmes, while achieving large factors in computing performance gains consistent with projections on available computing resources.