Editing Geant4 (section)

== Features ==
Geant4 includes facilities for handling [[geometry]], tracking, [[particle detector|detector]] response, run management, visualization and [[user interface]].  For many physics simulations, this means less time needs to be spent on the low level details, and researchers can start immediately on the more important aspects of the simulation.

Following is a summary of each of the facilities listed above:
* ''Geometry'' is an analysis of the physical layout of the experiment, including detectors, [[absorber]]s, etc., and considering how this layout will affect the path of particles in the experiment.
* ''Tracking'' is simulating the passage of a particle through matter.  This involves considering possible [[Fundamental interaction|interaction]]s and [[Radioactive decay|decay]] processes.
* ''Detector response'' is recording when a particle passes through the volume of a detector, and approximating how a real detector would respond.
* ''Run management'' is recording the details of each ''run'' (a set of ''events''), as well as setting up the experiment in different configurations between runs.
* Geant4 offers a number of options for ''visualization'', including [[OpenGL]], [[Open Inventor]], [[VRML]] or [[VTK]] and a familiar ''user interface'', based on [[tcsh]] or [[Qt_(software)|Qt]].

Geant4 can also perform basic histogramming; it requires external analysis tools for exploiting advanced histogramming features.

Since release 10.0, Geant4 implements [[thread (computing)|multithreading]],<ref name="geant4-3"/> making use of [[thread-local storage]] to allow for efficient generation of simulated events in parallel. Geant4 can be installed under a Unix-based operating system such as [[MacOS]], [[Linux]] or under [[Microsoft Windows]].