How DigiSim works

The DigiSim package works by using a chain of "modifiers", which will apply successive transformations to the input simulated hits.  The resulting raw hits are then simply appended to the LCEvent, and get automatically written to the output LCIO file.  Fig.1 shows the DigiSim class diagram, which is helpful to understand how DigiSim works.  Note that the ellipses represent the Marlin/C++ and the LCSim/Java frameworks.  Right below the frameworks are the framework-specific liaison classes DigiSimProcessor and DigiSimDriver, whose interfaces are imposed by the frameworks.  All other classes have basically the same interfaces and have the same functionality in the Java and C++ versions.



DigiSim class diagram


Figure 1: Class diagram for the digitization simulation package DigiSim.  Please note the inheritance relationships represented by the solid arrows and the containment (usage) relationships represented by the solid (dashed) line and open arrows.  AbstractCalHitModifier, RandomNoise and FunctionModifier are abstract classes, defining the interfaces to be followed by their subclasses.


The frameworks, namely Marlin in C++ or LCSim in Java, take care of all the I/O, and call specific DigiSim hooks for initialization, event processing and finalization.  The hooks are actually defined by each framework, hence DigiSimProcessor (DigiSimDriver) is the only DigiSim class which knows about the Marlin (LCSim) framework, and so abides by the interface imposed for all Marlin Processors (LCSim Drivers).  These classes instantiate one digitizer per subdetector to be digitized.

The Digitizer class is responsible for managing the whole digitization processing for its subdetector.  During its initialization, all the requested modifiers are instantiated and configured, according to the DigiSim configuration file, or steering file.

The processing which takes place during the event loop is better understood by analysing Fig.2.  The modifiers will act on transient copies of the calorimeter hits (class TempCalHit), which is used as both input and output to the modifiers' event processing method.  The abstract class CalHitModifier defines the interface to be inherited by the modifiers.



Figure 2: Illustration of the processing inside the DigiSim event loop.


Figure 2 - Diagram illustrating the event processing loop.  (Click on the figure for better resolution)



At the event loop, events are passed to the  Digitizer, which extracts the simulated hits (SimCalorimeterHits) from an LCCollection (SimHitsLCCollection).  Simulated hits are converted into the transient hits (class TempCalHits) and passed through a chain of modifiers.  Each modifier modifies the input TempCalHits by applying their own transformation.  After all the modifiers have been processed, the final TempCalHit objects are finally converted into RawCalorimeterHits (including some double to integer conversions), which are then stored into a new  LCCollection (RawHitsLCCollection) and appended to the event.  The framework provides default processors/drivers which take care of writing the modified events into the output file. In the Marlin/C++ version of DigiSim, the framework also provides processors which can convert from RawCalorimeterHits to CalorimeterHits> and from RawCalorimeterHits to SimCalorimeterHits. Information on these conversions is in the "Configuring DigiSim and its modifiers" section of this website.