Software/Geant4

Introduction

This is a tutorial about applications of GEANT4 to medical physics. GEANT4 is installed on the HEP Linux cluster at UCL. You will need an account on that cluster to be able to use this software, run example tutorials and create your own applications.

Accounts

• Getting a computing account

Apply for a computing account on the HEP Linux cluster by sending e-mail to UCL HEP Computing Support. In your e-mail you have to state the reason for your application (e.g. medical physics student who will use GEANT4 on the HEP cluster).

You will receive an e-mail from the HEP computing support with your username and password. Now you can log in to the HEP cluster plus1 via ssh username@plus1.hep.ucl.ac.uk. Your personal area on plus1 cluster will be at /home/username/.

The basics of GEANT4

GEANT4 is a toolkit for simulating the passage of particles through matter. You can use GEANT4 by creating your own simulation applications using the available GEANT4 tools.

• Introduction to GEANT4 will help you understand the basics of GEANT4 and the necessary ingredients to write your own application.
• Useful links:
  • Geant4 User's Guide for Application Developers
  • Physics Reference Manual
  • GEANT4 Classes
  • GEANT4 hypernews
  • Geant4 Cross Reference
  • Frequently Asked Questions

Data Analysis Software

These tutorials use ROOT to analyse data. Useful links:

• ROOT User's Guide
• ROOT Primer
• ROOT tutorials

Similarly, data can be analysed using MATLAB. This is a link to interactive introduction to MATLAB:

• MATLAB introduction

Tutorials

There are two sets of tutorials available to help you getting started in running simulations with Geant4:

Basic

There are several basic tutorials that introduce the rudiments of Geant4 simulations for proton therapy:

• Monoenergetic Photon Pencil Beam is a simple code which shows the dose deposition in water along the incident monoenergetic photon beam.
• Monoenergetic Proton Pencil Beam is a simple code which shows the dose deposition in water along the incident monoenergetic proton beam.
• Proton Beam With Realistic Geometry is a simple code with realistic geometry of the proton beam. The primary particles are generated with initial energy, position and direction described by Gaussian distributions. Computed is the dose deposition in water along the beam.
• Several proton beams with spread out Bragg Peaks is a simple code which shows the dose deposition in water from several incident monoenergetic proton beams.
• Electron Beam Using Phase-Space Files is a simple code which shows the dose deposition in water along the incident electron beam using phase-space data files.

Advanced

There are two more advanced tutorials available:

• Computed Tomography
• High-Precision Dosimetry

Installing GEANT4 locally

• Downloading the Geant4 package
• Linux terminal
• Installing Geant4
• Updating Geant4
• Running an example