Add function to save itp_map InterpolatingMap related dictionary into pickle

[dachengx]

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What does the code in this PR do / what does it improve?

Add a function to generate pickle format InterpolatingMap. Codes are mainly copied from https://github.com/XENONnT/nton/blob/dcd7193061778a9a155bfdcb703ef6c19f0b7d60/nton/sim/optical_patterns/optical_simulations/maps.py#L420-L475.

Can you briefly describe how it works?

Can you give a minimal working example (or illustrate with a figure)?

Please include the following if applicable:

• [x] Update the docstring(s)
• [ ] Update the documentation
• [x] Tests to check the (new) code is working as desired.
• [ ] Does it solve one of the open issues on github?

Notes on testing

• Until the automated tests pass, please mark the PR as a draft.
• On the XENONnT fork we test with database access, on private forks there is no database access for security considerations.

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[coveralls]

coverage: 93.553% (+0.008%) from 93.545% when pulling a6739407f03afb5a1f215d505372df379814cddc on itp_map_generator into b3e776f632f224808d823fe924dbde05f1fcdf28 on master.

[GiovanniVolta]

Hey Dacheng, a bit of context for this PR? I have nothing against adding this new function. However, to my understanding, that it is not used to save the interpolated map but rather the not interpolated (aka the histogram from the simulated data). Are you suggesting avoiding the interpolation?

[dachengx]

interpolated

histogram in the codes is just the interpolated map. I will just change the name of histogram to map.

[GiovanniVolta]

interpolated

histogram in the codes is just the interpolated map. I will just change the name of histogram to map.

Sorry, I noticed that you changed the name of the argument, but before, it made more sense to me. What I would prefer is to change the name of the function.

[dachengx]

Sorry, I noticed that you changed the name of the argument, but before, it made more sense to me. What I would prefer is to change the name of the function.

But we are really saving maps, no matter whether the map is from a histogram or somewhere else, right?

[GiovanniVolta]

Mmmm no. The plugin loads the map via straxen.URLConfig and in the protocol, the itm_map keyword is given which calls straxen.InterpolatingMap which then return the interpolator object. In the private repo we have the actual histogram from the GEANT4 simulations. I might be wrong, maybe you or @l-althueser can correct me.

[dachengx]

Mmmm no. The plugin loads the map via straxen.URLConfig and in the protocol, the itm_map keyword is given which calls straxen.InterpolatingMap which then return the interpolator object. In the private repo we have the actual histogram from the GEANT4 simulations. I might be wrong, maybe you or @l-althueser can correct me.

I guess the title of the PR is a bit misleading. The function save_interpolating_map save the map into pickle file, it is not related to URLConfig.

[GiovanniVolta]

No, sorry. Maybe I am too picky, but my point is that we do NOT save the interpolation. Again we save the GEANT4 histogram, which is fed into the interpolation function and gives out an object. If we want this function, a more proper name can be something like save_optical_simualtion_for_straxen

[dachengx]

No, sorry. Maybe I am too picky, but my point is that we do NOT save the interpolation. Again we save the GEANT4 histogram, which is fed into the interpolation function and gives out an object. If we want this function, a more proper name can be something like save_optical_simualtion_for_straxen

But we can use the function in other ways, like S2-xy correction, which is data-driven.

[GiovanniVolta]

So are you saying that we are saving the interpolated S2 map? Could you point me to the file? The only S2 data-driven map I know is from Shenyang and it is a TensorFlow file.

[dachengx]

Yeah, that is also an example.

This function is only to save things in a format InterpolatingMap can understand. It does not only serve optical maps or any specified study.

The purpose to provide a unified function and encourage people to use that is that, pickle can not describe itself because it is binary. I got a lot of confusion when I simply look at a pickle, without source code to generate it. It is better to unify the file generation and formatting into one public function, than people digging into private repos.

[GiovanniVolta]

I agree with your @dachengx, but I am explicitly requesting a name change, please. This name is misleading.

[dachengx]

I agree with your @dachengx, but I am explicitly requesting a name change, please. This name is misleading.

Sorry, do you mean a name change of the PR or of the function?

[GiovanniVolta]

Of the function

[dachengx]

But this function can be applied in various contexts, not only in optical MC.

It only technically wraps a map and corresponding coordination to a dictionary, and saves the dictionary into a pickle. The function does not know what is the kind of the map.

[dachengx]

I did not directly copy the function in nton. I only select the part of pickle saving, to avoid the discussion on the physical context.