After the successful 6 years of the EU-funded ASPERA European nework for astroparticle physics, the new APPEC consortium that was founded one year ago is fully operational.

Horizon 2020, large infrastructures, coordination at the global level and with CERN and ESO… Stavros Katsanevas, Chairman of the General Assembly tells us about what to expect in the upcoming months related to APPEC’s strategy and challenges.

ASPERA is behind us now. What has been, according to you, its impact?

We first defined the disciplinary contours of Astroparticle Physics and this is the scope one should give to the first roadmap of 2008, better known as the roadmap of the “Magnificent 7”. This definition has now worldwide acceptance as can be seen by the global roadmap developed in the context of OECD. ASPERA then launched a series of common R&D calls totalling around 9M Euros on the themes of the roadmap. These calls beyond their scientific impact allowed us to test the differences of funding systems in Europe and work out an interface. Furthermore we accompanied the roadmap with a series of actions: elaborated the contacts with industry and the links to other sciences, eg geosciences and environment, and started to chart a computing model for the upcoming large infrastructures. An update of the roadmap with time-ordered priorities was elaborated in 2011 and finally we delivered the installation of a sustainable structure for the coordination of the field in Europe: the new APPEC.

What will the new APPEC do?

We will continue to accompany the large projects of the field and also work on the implementation of the Astroparticle Physics European Strategy, interfacing with the respective strategies on particle physics (CERN Council) and astrophysics (ESO and ASTRONET). The common calls will continue to be an important part of our action, in particular in the context of the new schemes proposed in Horizon 2020. Furthermore, we plan to collaborate with CERN on new emerging computing models and with the virtual observatories on data access. We will also try to support the coordination of the theorists of the domain. Last but not least, we believe that the APPEC and ASPERA, through their past actions, were recognised as key contributors to the global coordination of the field. This global coordination is needed more than anything else these days, eg in the domain of neutrino physics, and APPEC intends to play a key role in the process.

Talking of the Magnificent 7, what is the status of the domain currently?

The discovery of the Higgs and the results from Planck and the neutrino program brought into focus the Astroparticle Physics questions, namely are there laws at new energy scales linking the physics of the LHC with this of inflation explored by Planck? And how do the particles that come from these scales shape the formation of cosmic structure? We expect a gravitational wave detection event within the next 5 years. During the same period, the dark matter and neutrino mass programme will reach unprecedented sensitivities. Among the challenging new infrastructures, Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) has become a world-wide priority, the first phase of the neutrino telescope KM3Net is financed; while the Auger Observatory is studying a modest upgrade to study the highest energy cosmic ray composition. The long baseline neutrino community is proposing a very innovative R&D programme based on liquid argon detectors. In the 10 years scale, a very ambitious dark energy international programme on ground (LSST) and space (EUCLID) will be deployed. These programmes, obeying different time-scales and using a diversity of funding sources, do not demand major increases of the current budget of the agencies, with the probable exception of CTA. APPEC plans, till next summer, to compare the timelines of the large projects of the roadmap to the available European agency resources.

There is more and more talk on Horizon 2020? What is the APPEC strategy in the domain?

This is a central goal of APPEC. We do not forget the structuring effects of previous framework programmes for the domain; from the Integrated Activities ILIAS program to the various Design Studies and ASPERA. We are glad that two of the priority infrastructures: underground laboratories and gravitational wave antennas have been preselected in the Integrated Infrastructures work program. Furthermore the light structure of APPEC is adapted to the ERANET+ schemes of Horizon 2020, where European wide common calls can be topped up by funds of the EU up to 50%. Many more Horizon 2020 instruments are interesting for APPEC. This is why we plan an information event for the agencies and the community 4-5 of November 2013 in Berlin.

Europe launches consortium for astroparticle physics

Written by katrinlink on 11th January 2013. Posted in

11 January 2013

CERN Courier – Europe launches consortium for astroparticle physics

Theoretical PACT Workshop

Written by katrinlink on 15th September 2012. Posted in

15 September 2012

The aim of this workshop is to analyze the recent CMB data from Planck satellite and LSS data from galaxy surveys, and study their impact on Fundamental Physics.

The PACT Extended Workshop on “Fundamental Physics, CMB and LSS and in the light of Planck and DES”, will be held at the Instituto de Física Teórica (UAM-CSIC) in Madrid, from Monday 7th October to Friday 1st November 2013.

This event will be similar in spirit to the extended workshops held in the summer every two years in the Benasque Center for Science.It will bring together international experts on both theoretical and observational aspects of Cosmology.

Invited speakers are offered local accommodation during their stay at the workshop (in the local UAM residence), as well as a desk in an office at IFT, and the local secretarial infrastructure. Travel and local expenses are not provided, unless a special request is made to the Organizing Committee, and depending on the IFT budget.

The program will consist on a few lectures by selected speakers followed by long discussion sessions, and will leave plenty of time in the afternoon for interactions and research. We also intend to devote one of the weeks to a specific workshop on “Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology 2013”, where we will invite the main experiments to present the latest results from their collaborations. Participation in this workshop is by invitation only and there is no registration fee.

European funding agencies push forward large astroparticle physics projects

Written by katrinlink on 22nd November 2011. Posted in

22 November 2011

European funding agencies welcomed today the priorities for the future of astroparticle physics defined by the scientific community, and accepted the recommendations included in the newly published update of the European roadmap for astroparticle physics.

This update comes after the first ever European roadmap for astroparticle physics published in 2008 whose main goal was to define the research infrastructures necessary for the development of the field: « the Magnificent Seven » of astroparticle physics. Astroparticle physics aims to investigate on fundamental questions such as the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the study the high-energy Universe through new messenger astronomy (high-energy gamma, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) and the behaviour of interactions at the highest energies as revealed by the search of proton decay and the determination of neutrino properties.

“The update of the roadmap provides a better picture of what will come first on the menu” said Christian Spiering, chairman of the ASPERA and ApPEC* Scientific Advisory Committee that produced the roadmap. Funding for each project is still subject to national decision-making processes, and the roadmap recognises that not all funding agencies will necessarily support each project.

The strategy of astroparticle physics reaffirms the needed support for current running experiments and planned upgrades, in particular in the areas of gravitational waves, dark matter search and neutrino property measurement, and to underground and space-based infrastructures. The mid-term planning (2015-2020) for astroparticle physics research includes four large projects to be constructed starting from the middle of this decade.

In the domain of TeV gamma-ray astrophysics the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is clearly the worldwide priority project. CTA is an initiative to build the next generation ground-based very high-energy gamma-ray observatory, combining proven technological feasibility with a guaranteed scientific perspective. Some 800 scientists from 25 countries around the world have already joined forces to build it.

Furthermore, KM3NeT, the next generation high-energy neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea, is in its final stages of technology definition, with prototype deployment expected within the next 2-3 years. KM3NeT is an ESFRI project currently under an EU-funded preparatory phase, having obtained substantial regional funding.

Next is a global next-generation ground-based cosmic ray observatory following the footsteps of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina and LAGUNA, a megaton-scale project for low energy neutrino physics and astrophysics. LAGUNA will combine the search for fundamental new phenomena in the cosmos with precise measurements of neutrinos from both cosmic and accelerator origins. LAGUNA is at the interface with the CERN European Strategy update to be delivered early 2013. It is currently under an EU-funded design study.

“What is described in the European strategy of astroparticle physics is great science. We look forward to seeing the first of these projects running” said Maurice Bourquin, Chairman of the ApPEC Steering Committee.

On longer time scales, very large infrastructures in the domain of dark energy or gravitational wave detection are considered and will need a global convergence or complementary approaches.

“We know that some of these large projects will need a global approach. It is why we invited our colleagues from other continents to discuss how we can succeed in implementing these infrastructures together” said Hermann-Friedrich Wagner, Chairman of the ASPERA Governing Board.

Astroparticle physics is a rapidly growing field of research, emerging from the convergence of particle physics and astrophysics. In the last decade, three Nobel prizes have been awarded to physicists working in areas close to astroparticle physics, demonstrating the relevance and vitality of this field.

Note for editors:

ApPEC is the Astroparticle Physics European Coordination. It was founded in 2001 when six European scientific agencies took the initiative to coordinate and encourage astroparticle physics in Europe. 11 countries are currently members of ApPEC.

ASPERA, the AStroParticle European Research Area is a network of European national funding agencies responsible for astroparticle physics. ASPERA is funded by the European Commission as an ERA-NET. ASPERA comprises currently 23 national funding agencies in 19 countries, and CERN European Organization.

LAGUNA-LBNO’s design study for a European very large underground neutrino observatory is launched at CERN

Written by katrinlink on 18th October 2011. Posted in

The kick-off meeting for the second phase of the LAGUNA’s design study starts today at CERN. The principal goal of LAGUNA (Large Apparatus for Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics) is to assess the feasibility of a new pan-European research infrastructure able to host the next generation, very large volume, deep underground neutrino observatory. The scientific goals of such an observatory combine exciting neutrino astrophysics with research addressing several fundamental questions such as proton decay and the existence of a new source of matter-antimatter asymmetry in Nature, in order to explain why our Universe contains only matter and not equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

Underground neutrino detectors based on large, surface-instrumented, liquid volumes have achieved fundamental results in particle and astroparticle physics, and were able to simultaneously collect events from several different cosmic sources. Neutrinos interact only very weakly with matter so they can travel very large distances in space and traverse dense zones of the Universe, thus providing unique information on their sources and an extremely rich physics programme.

In order to move forward, a next-generation very large multipurpose underground neutrino observatory of a total mass of around 100 000 to 500 000 tons is needed. This new facility will provide new and unique scientific opportunities, very likely leading to fundamental discoveries and attracting interest from scientists worldwide.

This further step newly includes the study of long baseline neutrino beams from CERN accelerators. When coupled to such a neutrino beam, the neutrino observatory will measure with unprecedented sensitivity neutrino flavor oscillation phenomena and possibly unveil the existence of CP violation in the leptonic sector.

In addition, the observatory will detect neutrinos as messengers from further distant astrophysical objects as well as from the early universe. In particular, it will sense a large number of neutrinos emitted by exploding galactic and extragalactic type-II supernovae. The neutrino observatory will also allow precision studies of other astrophysical or terrestrial sources of neutrinos, such as solar and atmospheric ones, and will search for new sources of astrophysical neutrinos like, for example, the diffuse neutrino background from relic supernovae, or those produced in hypothetic dark matter particle annihilation in the centre of the Sun or the Earth. Furthermore, it will allow unprecedented search for the proton lifetime with sensitivities up to 10³⁵ years, pursuing the only possible path to directly test physics at the grand unified theory scale.

Called LAGUNA-LBNO, this design study is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme and will last three years. LAGUNA is one of the Magnificent Seven, the large infrastructures included in the European Roadmap for astroparticle physics developed by the ASPERA* European network of funding agencies. There is currently an intense competition worldwide to host the next generation large neutrino observatory. Europe is currently leading deep underground science with a strong expertise in this area, thanks its four long running deep underground laboratories. LAGUNA will provide an important asset for Europeans to keep this leadership in deep underground physics.

LAGUNA-LBNO brings together 300 scientists, CERN and 38 other institutions from Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, United-Kingdom and Switzerland. It is coordinated by André Rubbia from ETH Zurich.

Note for editors:

ASPERA, the AStroParticle European Research Area is a network of European national funding agencies responsible for astroparticle physics. ASPERA is funded by the European Commission, bringing together 19 countries and CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)