source: trunk/documents/UserDoc/UsersGuides/ForToolkitDeveloper/latex/OOAnalysisDesign/Geometry/geometry.tex@ 1275

\chapter{Geometry}

\section{Design Philosopy}
The geometry category provides the ability to describe a geometrical structure 
and propagate particles efficiently through it.  This is done in part with 
the aid of two central concepts, the {\it logical} and {\it physical} volumes.
A logical volume represents a detector element of a given shape which may
contain other volumes, and which may have other attributes.  It has access to
other information which is independent of its phyisical location in the 
detector, such as material and sensitive detector behavior.  A physical volume
represents the spatial positioning or placement of the logical volume with
respect to an enclosing mother (logical) volume.  Thus a hierarchical tree
structure of volumes can be built with each volume containing smaller volumes
(which may not overlap).  Repetitive structures can be represented by 
specialized physical volumes, such as replicas and parameterized placements,
sometimes resulting in a large savings in memory. 

In {\sc Geant4} the logical volume has been refined by defining the shape as 
a separate entity, called a {\it solid}.  Solids with simple shapes, like 
rectilinear boxes, trapezoids, spherical or cylindrical sections or shells,
each have their properties coded separately, in accord with the concept of
{\it Constructed Solid Geometry (CSG)}.  More complex solids are defined by 
their bounding surfaces, which can be planes, second-order surfaces or 
higher-order B-spline surfaces, and belong to the {\it Boundary 
Representations (BREP)} sub-category.

Another way to build solids is by boolean combination - union, intersection 
and subtraction.  The elemental solids should be CSGs.  

Although a detector is naturally and best described as by a hierarchy of
volumes, efficiency is not critically dependent on this.  An optimization
technique, called voxelization, allows efficient navigation even in ``flat''
geometries, typical of those produced by CAD systems.
  
\section{Class Design} 

\begin{itemize}

\item {\bf G4GeometryManager} -
   responsible for managing ``high level'' objects in the geometry subdomain, 
   notably including opening and closing (``locking'') the geometry, and 
   creating/deleting optimization information for G4Navigator. The class is 
   a "singleton".
 
\item {\bf G4LogicalVolumeStore} -
   a container for optionally storing created logical volumes. It enables 
   traversal of all logical volumes by the UI/user/etc.
 
\item {\bf G4LogicalVolume} -
   represents a leaf node or unpositioned subtree in the geometry hierarchy. 
   It may have daughters ascribed to it, and is also responsible for 
   retrieval of the physical and tracking attributes of the physical volume 
   that it represents.  These attributes include solid, material, magnetic 
   field, and optionally user limits, sensitive detectors, etc.  Logical
   volumes are optionally entered into the G4LogicalVolumeStore.
 
\item {\bf G4MagneticField} -
   a class responsible for the magnetic field in each volume, including the 
   calculation of particle trajectories along curved paths. In cases where 
   the geometry step limits the particle's step, the distance calculated 
   is guaranteed to be the distance to a volume boundary.
 
\item {\bf G4Navigator} -
   a class used by the tracking management, able to obtain/calculate 
   tracking-time geometrical information such as distance to the next volume, 
   or to find the physical volume containing a given point in the world 
   reference system.  The navigator maintains a transformation history and 
   other information used to optimize the tracking time performance. 

\item {\bf G4NavigationHistory} -
   responsible for maintenance of the history of the path taken through the 
   geometrical hierarchy.  It is principally a utility class for use by 
   G4Navigator.
 
\item {\bf G4NormalNavigation} -
   a utility class for navigation in volumes containing only G4PVPlacement 
   daughter volumes.
 
\item {\bf G4ParameterisedNavigation} -
   a utility class for navigation in volumes containing a single 
   G4PVParameterised volume for which voxels for the replicated volumes have 
   been constructed.
 
\item {\bf G4VoxelNavigation} -
   a utility class for navigation in volumes containing only G4PVPlacement 
   daughter volumes for which voxels have been constructed.
 
\item {\bf G4ReplicaNavigation} -
   a utility class for navigation in volumes containing a single 
   G4PVParameterised volume for which voxels for the replicated volumes 
   have been constructed. 

\item {\bf G4PhysicalVolumeStore} -
   a container for optionally storing created physical volumes. It enables 
   traversal of all physical volumes by the UI/user/etc.  All solids should 
   be registered with G4PhysicalVolumeStore, and removed on their destruction. 
   It is intended principally for the UI browser.
 
\item {\bf G4VPhysicalVolume} -
   a volume positioned within and relative to a given mother volume, and also 
   represented by a given logical volume.  They are optionally entered into 
   the G4PhysicalVolumeStore. 

\item {\bf G4PVPlacement} -
   a physical volume corresponding to a single touchable detector element, 
   positioned within and relative to a mother volume.
 
\item {\bf G4PVIndexed} -
   a volume able to perform simple changes to its shape (corresponds to 
   GSPOSP), and representing a single touchable detector element.
 
\item {\bf G4PVReplica} -
   a physical volume representing many identically formed touchable detector 
   elements, differing only in their positioning.  The elements' positions 
   are determined by means of a simple formula, and the elements completely 
   fill the containing mother volume.
 
\item {\bf G4PVParameterised} -
   a physical volume representing many touchable detector elements differing 
   in their positioning and dimensions.  Both are calculated by means of a 
   G4VParameterisation object.  Each element's position is calculated as per 
   G4PVReplica, and each element's shape can be modified by means of a user 
   supplied formula.
 
\item {\bf G4VPVParameterisation} -
   a parameterisation class able to compute the transformation and, 
   indirectly, the dimensions of parameterised volumes, given a replication 
   number. 

\item {\bf G4SmartVoxelProxy} -
   a class for proxying smart voxels.  The class represents either a header 
   (in turn refering to more VoxelProxies) or a node.  If created as a node, 
   calls to GetHeader cause an exception, and likewise GetNode when a header. 

\item {\bf G4SmartVoxelHeader} -
   represents a single axis of virtual division.  Contains the individual 
   divisions which are potentially further divided along different axes.
 
\item {\bf G4SmartVoxelNode} -
   a single virtual division, containing the physical volumes inside its 
   boundaries and those of its parents.
 
\item {\bf G4VoxelLimits} -
   represents limitation/restrictions of space, where restrictions are only 
   made perpendicular to the cartesian axes. 

\item {\bf G4RotationMatrixStore} -
   a container for optionally storing created G4RotationMatrices.
 
\item {\bf G4SolidStore} -
   a container for optionally storing created solids.  It enables traversal 
   of all/any solids by the UI/user/etc. The class is a "singleton".
 
\item {\bf G4VSolid} -
   position independent geometrical entities. They have only `shape', and 
   encompass both CSG and boundary representations.  They are optionally 
   entered into the G4SolidStore.  This class defines, but does not implement, 
   functions to compute distances to/from the shape.  Functions are also 
   defined to check whether a point is inside the shape, to return the 
   surface normal of the shape at a given point, and to compute the extent 
   of the shape. 

\item {\bf G4VSweptSolid} -
   a solid created by performing a 3D transformation on a finite planar face.
 
\item {\bf G4HalfSpaceSolid} -
   a solid created by the boolean AND of one or more half space surfaces.
 
\item {\bf G4BREPSolid} -
   a solid created by an abitrary set of finite surfaces. 

\item {\bf G4VTouchable} -
   a class that maintains a ``reference'' on a given touchable element of 
   the detector - a kind of bookmark.  It enables a given detector element 
   to be saved during tracking (in case of booleans/user code/etc.) and the 
   corresponding G4PhysicalVolume retrieved later, with its ``state''
   information (path through the tree) optionally restored so that 
   navigation can be restarted.  G4Touchables provide fast access to the 
   transformation from the global reference system to that of the saved 
   detector element. 

\item {\bf G4TouchableHistory} -
   object representing a touchable detector element, and its history in the 
   geomtrical hierarchy, including its net resultant local->global transform.
 
\item {\bf G4GRSSolid} - object representing a touchable solid.  It maintains 
   the association between a solid and its net resultant local-to-global 
   transform.
 
\item {\bf G4GRSVolume} - object representing a touchable detector element.  
   It maintains associations between a physical volume and its net resultant 
   local-to-global transform. 

\item {\bf G4TransformStore} -
   a container for optionally storing created G4AffineTransform objects. 
   It is responsible for storing and providing access to transformations 
   that are constant at tracking time.
 
\item {\bf G4AffineTransform} - a class for geometric affine transformations. 
   It supports efficient arbitrary rotation and transformation of vectors and 
   the computation of compound and inverse transformations.  A 
   ``rotation flag'' is maintained internally for greater computational 
   efficiency for transforms that do not involve rotation.
 
\item {\bf G4UserLimits} -
   responsible for user limits on step size, ascribable to individual volumes. 

\end{itemize}

Fig. \ref{figure:geom-1} shows a general overview, in UML notation, of 
the geometry design.  A detailed collection of class diagrams from the 
geometry category is found in the Appendix.

\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
% \addtolength{\textwidth}{3cm}
\includegraphics[angle=0,scale=0.6]{OOAnalysisDesign/Geometry/overall.eps}
\caption{Overview of the geometry}
\label{figure:geom-1}
\end{center}
\end{figure}

\section{Status of this chapter}

27.06.05 subsection on design philosphy (from Geant4 general paper) 
         added by D.H. Wright \\