Interview with Clarisse Aujoux, Kumiko Kotera and Odile Blanchard on the first carbon footprint study of an astroparticle physics experiment
Environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly important topic, especially in science. The approach of determining the annual carbon footprint of a future astroparticle experiment and identifying possible savings potential is new and will certainly become an important aspect in the future. As pioneers, three scientists have published a study on the carbon footprint of the GRAND experiment, taking a close look at the main emission sources, i.e. travel, digital technologies and hardware equipment. In this interview, we talk to Clarisse Aujoux, Kumiko Kotera and Odile Blanchard about their study.
With your work, you are the first to conduct such a carbon footprint study for an astrophysics experiment. How did it come about?
The GRAND collaboration is concerned about its environmental impact. We had several discussions about this subject in collaboration meetings, and a “GRAND Carbon Committee” was set up. As our experiment is in its prototyping stage, it is a good time to make decisions according to environmental criteria. Still, as long as we don’t have any quantification of the emissions, we cannot make consistent decisions. Therefore, a first step towards taking such measures was to estimate the carbon footprint of our experiment, and assess the major sources of emissions.
Can you shortly explain what GRAND is?
A prototype antenna being tested at the deployment site of the 300-antenna pathfinder, GRANDProto300, in the Qinhai Province, China. Credit: GRAND collaboration.
The working of the most violent phenomena in the Universe (compact object mergers, blazar jets, pulsar winds…) remains mysterious. These objects could be probed by deciphering the ultra-high energy astroparticle messengers that they send. The detection of these particles is however very challenging and requires to deploy large-scale experiments.
The GRAND (Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection) project aims primarily at detecting ultra-high energy neutrinos, cosmic rays and gamma rays, with a colossal array of 200,000 radio antennas over 200,000 km2, split into ~20 sub-arrays of ~10,000 km2 deployed worldwide. The strategy of GRAND is to detect air showers above 1017 eV that are induced by the interaction of high-energy particles in the atmosphere or in the Earth crust, through its associated coherent radio-emission in the 50-200 MHz range.
A staged construction plan ensures that key techniques are progressively validated, while simultaneously achieving important science goals in UHECR physics, radioastronomy, and cosmology early during construction. The 300-antenna pathfinder array, GRANDProto300, is planned to be deployed in 2021. It aims at demonstrating autonomous radio detection of inclined air-showers, and make measurements of the composition and the muon content of cosmic rays around the ankle energy. The first 10,000 antenna sub-array (GRAND10k) is planned to be deployed in the mid 2020s, and will have the sensitivity to detect the first ultra-high energy neutrinos. In its final configuration (GRAND200k), in the 2030s, GRAND plans to increase our sensitivity to neutrino detection of two orders of magnitude compared to current experiments, and to reach a sub-degree angular resolution, which should enable us to perform ultra-high energy neutrino astronomy.
GRAND will also be the largest detector of UHE cosmic rays and gamma rays. It will improve UHECR statistics at the highest energies ten-fold within a few years, and either discover UHE gamma rays or improve their limits ten-fold. Further, it will be a valuable tool in radioastronomy and cosmology, allowing for the discovery and follow-up of large numbers of radio transients — fast radio bursts, giant radio pulses — and for precise studies of the epoch of reionization.
Which parts of the experiment cause the greatest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions?
Projected distribution of greenhouse gas emissions for all sources for GRANDProto300, GRAND10k and the full GRAND array. The title indicates the total amount of emissions per year due to each source at each experimental stage. (source: Aujoux, Kotera & Blanchard, 2021 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.02049.pdf)
In our study, we have focussed on the GHG emissions related to three sources: travel, digital technologies and hardware equipment. Interestingly, we find that these emission sources have a different impact depending on the stages of the experiment. Digital technologies and travel prevail for the small-scale prototyping phase (GRANDProto300), whereas hardware equipment (material production and transportation) and data transfer/storage largely outweigh the other emission sources in the large-scale phase (GRAND200k). In the mid-scale phase (GRAND10k), the three sources contribute equally.
Did you expect these results or was one result particularly surprising?
We did not expect that the emissions related to digital technologies would have such a large impact. We believe that people in general are more aware of the emissions due to travel and hardware equipment production, but tend to forget that large amount of data can actually lead to a huge carbon footprint.
How can these findings contribute to reducing GRAND’s carbon footprint?
The study has initiated numerous discussions within the collaboration. Various types of actions may be implemented to mitigate the carbon footprint of GRAND, at all stages of the project deployment.
Travel emissions may be reduced by encouraging local collaborators to perform the on-site missions or by having international collaborators stay longer on the site of the experiment rather than doing multiple trips, each lasting a few days ; they may also be reduced by optimizing collaboration meetings, through optimizing the location of the meetings, limiting the number of attendees from the collaboration, opting for some virtual meetings, and combining virtual and physical meetings.
Options to reduce digital emissions include the reduction in the volume of data to be archived. The collaboration is already developing data reduction strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of data transfer and storage by 4 or 5 orders of magnitude. It was also found that shipping regularly the archival data by air mail would be largely less emitting than transferring the data via the internet. As for the emissions from simulations and data analysis, the challenge is to reduce the millions of CPU hours projected to be spent yearly. Incentives to weigh the cost/benefit of the simulation runs may contribute to lower the carbon footprint in the years to come.
Mitigating the emissions from manufacturing and hauling the hardware equipment will be a top priority for the design of the GRAND200k phase, as these emissions are projected to weigh most in the carbon footprint of this phase. It is about optimizing the environmental cost of the materials used for the antennas, the solar panels and the batteries, establishing a recycling plan, and monitoring the transportation from the production sites to the array-sites.
The GRAND collaboration will take several actions in response to this study. The various action plans proposed for each emission source will be documented in a GRAND Green Policy, which each collaboration member will be encouraged to follow, in order to reduce the collective carbon footprint.
To what extent does the location of the experiment, in this case China, have an impact on the results?
The GRAND experiment requires to be deployed in a radio-quiet area, and such areas are remote by essence. The emissions related to on-site missions and the transportation of the hardware equipment have a large impact on the total carbon footprint, in the small- and mid-scale phases.
As an international collaboration, GRAND members originate from institutes located in several countries. The main countries presently involved are (in alphabetical order): Brazil, China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. This geographical spread, not specific to GRAND but to any international collaboration, raises obvious concerns about communication (e.g., physically gathering collaborators regularly, and hence about travel, but also about the digital infrastructure).
However, in the large-scale phase, travel and hardware transportation appear to have less impact, as emissions due to digital and hardware material prevail. We caution however that the geographical locations of the various sub-arrays –to be scattered around the world at yet undecided locations– was not taken into account.
The location of the experiment also sets the electricity emission factor, which can vary of more than one order of magnitude from one country to another. The high electricity emission factor of China implies that all our GHG emissions related to local energy consumption are particularly enhanced.
Roadmap of the GRAND project. The different stages of the project are presented, with information on the envisionned set-up, growth of the collaboration, and major greenhouse gas emission sources with their contribution in tCO2e/yr and their corresponding percentage, as estimated in our work. (source: Aujoux, Kotera & Blanchard, 2021 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.02049.pdf)
Particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic, the topic of travel has been discussed a lot, especially in connection with online meetings. How has this pandemic influenced your findings?
While studying the travel habits of the GRAND collaboration members, we clearly saw a drop in their travel activity after March 2020. This obviously resulted in a cut in the GHG emissions due to travel. Our study indicates that travel constitutes one of the main emission sources of the small- and mid-scale stages of the project. Besides, it is our belief that mitigation measures should be taken on all possible fronts. The Covid-19 situation has demonstrated that cutting on travel is definitely a way to reduce the carbon footprint of the collaboration.
However, we will have to elaborate on hybrid solutions as we need to maintain a certain level of physical meetings. It will be about optimizing those meetings and trips. In any case, researchers need to travel to the experimental site in order to make measurements, check that the site is appropriate for the project, and deploy the array. Furthermore, in the process of building a collaboration, personal interactions and conversations at coffee breaks and shared lunches and dinners are viewed as crucial seeds for progress. For students and postdoctoral scholars, networking is often perceived as a sine qua non for a successful career, and this is more challenging to perform online.
Do you think that such studies will be part of every experiment in the future?
Large-scale physics and astrophysics experiments gather a large fraction of the scientific staff and absorb a significant volume of the science budget. As such, it seems essential to assess their environmental impact. Besides, we believe that these experiments could turn out to be interesting for other laboratories to elaborate and test ideas, and to appreciate the best practices to be implemented in other contexts.
In this token, it is likely that such studies become part of every experiment in the future, primarily because scientists feel in majority concerned about these questions.
What can other experiments learn from your study?
The specificity of the methodology presented in our paper is that it is fully transparent and uses open source data. Hence, the method is replicable to any other scientific consortium. We have already received feedback and solicitation from colleagues who are planning to use our methodology to assess the carbon footprint of their experiments. We also propose several lines of actions for the travel and digital emission sources, that could be implemented in other experiments. We are looking forward to exchanging ideas, data and methods in order to improve the carbon footprint of the physics and astrophysics community.
Clarisse Aujoux is currently completing her Master’s degree at Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées Paris Tech, with a major in energy transition. Through her student years, she progressively developed a strong interest for environmental impact of human activities and thus specialized in carbon footprint and Life Cycle Assessment. Joining the GRAND project in 2020 for a 6 months period, she provided a systemic approach to the environmental footprint of this collaboration, essential for the decision-making process.
Kumiko Kotera (Credit: Jean Mouette /IAP-CNRS-SU)
Kumiko Kotera is a researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). She specializes in astroparticle physics and high-energy astrophysics. Today, she acts as co-spokesperson for the international GRAND project, to try to probe the most violent phenomena of the Universe, via the detection of their extremely energetic messengers (cosmic rays, gamma rays and neutrinos).
Odile Blanchard
Odile Blanchard is an associate professor of economics at Université Grenoble Alpes, France, and specializes in energy and climate economics. She currently facilitates the work of the “Carbon footprint” team of Labos 1point5 and contributes to the development of GES1point5, the carbon footprint calculator of French research laboratories. : https://labos1point5.org/ges-1point5
The Virgo interferometer is officially a IEEE Milestone, along with the two LIGO detectors. On 3rd February 2021 the ceremony of dedication of a IEEE Milestone to the three gravitational wave antennas ‘for the first gravitational waves detection and the launching of the era of Multi Messenger Astronomy with the coordinated detection of gravitational waves from a binary neutron star merger’ took place.
Pictured from the left Giovanni Losurdo – Virgo spokesperson, Marco Pallavicini – EGO Council president, Antonio Zoccoli – INFN President, Stavros Katsanevas – EGO director, Bernardo Tellini – IEEE Italy Section chair, Eugenio Giani – President of Tuscany, Massimo Carpinelli – EGO Deputy Director (Credits: EGO)
The ceremony was held as a global event, during which the Italian site of the European Gravitational Observatory – EGO in Cascina was connected via network with the equivalent US sites in Livingston in Louisiana and in Hanford in the state of Washington. The event saw the participation of, among others, the president of the IEEE Kathy Susan Land, the governors of the two US states, the President of Tuscany Eugenio Giani, the presidents of the US and European Funding Agencies involved: the American National Science Foundation – NSF, the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare -INFN, the French CNRS – Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Dutch NWO – Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the three Nobel laureates for the discovery of gravitational waves: Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss.
“The scientific endeavour of the detection of gravitational waves and of Virgo is an extraordinary story – said Stavros Katsanevas, Director of EGO – European Gravitational Observatory – in which the persistence and the visionary spirit of some scientists, like Adalberto Giazotto and Alain Brillet, have opened a new field of knowledge and inaugurated a new era of cosmic observations. Furthermore the same technologies that we have invented to detect echoes from the merging of black holes or stars millions of light years away from Earth can have important applications for society, for example to study earthquakes or climate change. This way gravitational observatories can become antennas listening to the environment near us in addition to exploring the far cosmos.”
The IEEE Milestone program was launched in 1983 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – IEEE to celebrate the most significant achievements in IEEE’s areas of interest.
The AHEAD2020 (Integrated Activities for High Energy Astrophysics) project has been funded under the Horizon 2020 Research Infrastructure Program. The AHEAD2020 main goal is to integrate and open research infrastructures for high energy and multi-messenger astrophysics. They offer a wide program of transnational access (TNA) to the best European test and calibration facilities and training/mentoring on X-ray data analysis and computational astrophysics at AHEAD2020 astronomical institutes and data centres. Moreover, they offer the possibility for scientists and engineers at all expertise levels to visit European institutes of their choice through their visitor program call. Proposals will be peer-reviewed by specific AHEAD2020 selection panels and ranked according to their merit. The access costs for the selected facility will be covered by AHEAD2020 as well as travel costs and daily allowances for the successful applicants.
The AHEAD2020 calls for a program of transnational visits and remote access activities to be performed starting April 2021. The main objectives are:
fostering new or strengthening existing collaborations on science and technology topics in high energy astrophysics (visitor program);
providing training and/or mentoring on high energy data analysis, use of advanced tools , computational astrophysics and multi messenger astronomy;
providing free access to some of the best European ground test and calibration facilities relevant for high-energy astrophysics.
Visitor grants include full reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses. To face possible restrictions to travel as effect of the pandemic, the possibility of remote access for a number of services in the area of data analysis, tools and computational astrophysics will be provided.
AO-1 Calls Opening: 11 January 2021
Submission Deadline: 22 February 2021(**)
** For activities concerning access to experimental facilities, submission will remain open and proposals can be submitted anytime until August 2023; they will be evaluated typically within one month from delivery.
During the week of October 4-8, the “Community Planning Meeting” (CPM2020) for the Snowmass 2021 took place. The aim was to developed the plans and the steps to take until the Community Summer Study (CSS) in July 2021. During the CSS a consensus on the key questions and opportunities of particle physics, enabling technologies and community engagement should be built and the content of the Snowmass Executive Summary should be formulated. The Snowmass21 process is leading to the final report, expected in October 2021. More information on the whole process is available here and from the Snowmass21 website.
A presentation on the European strategies for particle physics (2020), nuclear physics (2017), and astroparticle physics (2017), was delivered by Jorgen D’Hondt and was very well received. The Frontier-level workshops, including those of interest for APPEC (i.e. Theory, Neutrino, Cosmic, Instrumentation, Computational, Underground Facility and Infrastructure), have been organized since April 2020 and will continue through spring 2021. During CPM2020 the Frontiers received more than 1500 Letters of Interest which led to the organization of an impressive amount of parallel sessions during the second and third day on various topics of interest for APPEC, ranging from theoretical Dark Matter interpretations, and analysis/theory techniques for joint cosmological constraints, to future gravitational wave facilities.
The 10 frontiers and 80 topical groups will now develop the key questions and opportunities with the community members and converge on a series of white papers which will be used as inputs for the final report. An overview about the CMP2020 and the next steps for all frontiers is available in the October issue of Snowmass21 newsletter. The next milestone will be the Snowmass Mid-term Assessment during the 2021 APS April meeting.
Berrie Giebels, International Adviser representing APPEC
Update Jan ’21:
New Snowmass Timeline
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Snowmass Report and the Community Summer Study meeting (CSS) will be delayed by one year until 2022. The overall schedule for the Snowmass process will be adjusted accordingly. After extensive consultation with the community and the frontier conveners/advisors, the Snowmass Steering Group recommends the following general guidelines for the implementation of the Snowmass delay:
High-level activities will be on hold until the end of June, 2021. These activities include Frontier-level and Topical Group-level workshops, All-conveners meetings, Advisory Group meetings and Newsletters.
Other Topical Group and cross-frontier activities should be either paused or reduced to a significantly lower level, proceeding only as necessary to ensure scientific continuity, meet essential programmatic needs, or maintain collaborative work with other units and communities.
No critical decisions will be made during the hiatus.
No individuals should feel obligated to participate in these activities.
Individual, collaborative and self-organized work can continue at the discretion of the individuals involved. All paused individual or group activities will continue to receive full consideration once the Snowmass process formally resumes.
With respect to the timelines:
White Paper submission to arXiv: no later than March 15, 2022. Late submissions and updates are likely not to be incorporated in the working group reports, but will be included in the Snowmass on-line archive documents.
Preliminary reports by the Topical Groups due: no later than May 31, 2022.
Preliminary reports by the Frontiers due: no later than June 30, 2022.
Snowmass Community Summer Study (CSS): July, 2022 at UW-Seattle.
All final reports by TGs and Frontiers due: no later than September 30, 2022.
Snowmass Book and the on-line archive documents due: October 31, 2022.
Additional remarks on the plans of the individual frontiers can be found in the Snowmass Newsletter of January 2021. The Snowmass Steering Group will continue to monitor the process.
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, Italy, has reported its final results on the search for the neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge in the December issue of Physical Review Letters [1]. No signal has been observed, but all goals of the final phase of the experiment have been achieved.
Germanium detetcors of the GERDA experiment. (Credits: GERDA)
The reported lower limit for the 0νββ half-life in 76Ge of 1.8×1026 yr agrees with the expected value for the sensitivity of the experiment; a more stringent value for the decay of any 0νββ isotope has never been measured before. Similarly, the reported background rate of 5.2×10-4 counts/(kg∙yr∙keV) in the signal region is second to none in the field, demonstrating not only the feasibility of a background-free experiment at high exposure but also providing the foundation for a next generation experiment with significantly higher sensitivity.
The hypothetical 0νββ decay is a process beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics: two neutrons within a nucleus, here 76Ge, transform simultaneously into two protons and two electrons (‘beta particles’) without the common emission of two anti-neutrinos. Its detection would have profound implication for particle physics and cosmology: establishment of Lepton Number Violation and the Majorana nature of neutrinos, i.e. the identity of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, access to the neutrino mass scale and an important clue for understanding why there is so much more matter than antimatter in the Universe.
A little more than 50 years ago, Lepton Number Violation had been, indeed, already the issue of the first 0νββ decay search with a 0.1 kg germanium detector chosen by a Milano group because of its outstanding intrinsic energy resolution [2] . Since then, the sensitivity has been increased by a factor of one million. Essential to this track record was the continuous increase of the mass of the detector which simultaneously is the source of the decay, accompanied by the incessant reduction of the background in the signal region: in particular, by running the experiments deep-underground for reducing the background from cosmic rays, and by increasing the 76Ge isotope fraction from 7.8% in the natural germanium detectors via enrichment up to almost 90%.
Circles: lower limit (90% C.L.) on the 0νββ decay halflife of 76Ge set by GERDA as a function of the exposure. Triangles: median expectation in the assumptionof no signal. (From [1])
The GERDA experiment has been operated since 2011 at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN, Italy, below a rock over-burden of 3500 m water equivalent. In its final phase GERDA deployed 41 germanium detectors with a total mass of 44.2 kg and a 76Ge enrichment of 86-88%. Pioneering features are the key to progress: other than in the previous germanium experiments, the germanium detectors are operated without encapsulation in a cryostat of ultrapure liquid argon (LAr) immersed in an instrumented water tank as shield against photons, neutrons and muons. The LAr provides both cooling as well as shielding; furthermore, it helps to reduce the amount of mounting materials that, despite of careful screening, always exhibit a tiny rest of radioactive contaminants. For active shielding, the LAr is instrumented with light detectors which can indicate if a signal in the germanium detectors arises from radioactive background. Similar information can be gained from the time profile of the germanium detector signals. The GERDA collaboration has deployed detectors of novel design and developed new analysis tools in order to take full advantage of this background suppression technique.
The experience from GERDA has led to the expectation that further background reduction is in reach so that a background-free experiment with an even larger source strength respectively exposure becomes possible. The LEGEND collaboration [3] is aiming at increasing the sensitivity to the half-life of 0νββ decay up to 1028 yr. In a first phase, it will deploy a mass of 200 kg of enriched germanium detectors in the slightly modified infrastructure of GERDA with the start of data taking to be in 2021.
On November 4, 2020, the International Cosmic Day (ICD) took place for the 9th time. It focuses on the measurement of cosmic rays that surround us all the time, but are mostly unnoticed. During this day students should therefore explore these comsic rays and discover what secrets they bring with. The pandemic posed special challenges for this international event and at the same time offered the chance to explore new, innovative and unusual approaches. While in previous years all participants should measure the zenith dependancy of cosmic muons, this year both topic and format of the event was quite open. The only requirements was that the young people should learn about cosmic particles. This allowed to explore also new formats which can be used in the future.
Most of the activities during the International Cosmic Day took place online due to the pandemic. (Credits: DESY)
The type of activity was decided by the organizers on site – depending on what was possible. Some groups investigated the zenith angle distribution of muons with their own detectors or provided data, as known from previous years, and others met purely digitally. Colleagues in Italy streamed about four hours via Facebook, showed experiments and gave lectures. School classes or young people at home joined in. A a new form of cloud chamber workshop was tried out at DESY in Zeuthen. A teacher borrowed the cloud chamber sets for the classrom and together with the students they made their observations. A week later during a video meeting with the DESY team, scientists talked about their careers as researchers, gave insights into their daily tasks and showed pictures of their work on the experiments while the young people could asked a variety of questions: Starting from how to get a physics degree to technical and scientific questions about the observations with the cloud chamber. After this exchange, the young people summarized their day’s results in a page that will be included in the joint “conference booklet” which is prepared after the ICD with input from all participants.
In total, more than 4700 young people in 100 cities from 16 countries got involved with cosmic particles on this day. The exchange in the international video meeting calls was still the highlight for many young people, as the organizers reported. Offers such as an online quiz, a welcome message with greetings in the respective language of the participating countries or video meeting calls with up to five groups created a common framework and gave a sense of international flair.
Interview with Stavros Katsanevas about the Citizen Science project REINFORCE
The REINFORCE (Research Infrastructures FOR citizens in Europe) project aims to involve a broad public in the fascinating science of a Large Research Infrastructure. Through different citizen-science projects, REINFORCE aims to engage more than 100,000 citizens in making a genuine and valued contribution to managing the data avalanche. In this interview, we will learn more about the project from one of the project initiators, Stavros Katsanevas.
REINFORCE is a project on Citizen Science, what do you think are the benefits of Citizen Science, both for the participants as well as for the scientists from the Research Infrastructures?
REINFORCE (https://reinforceeu.eu/) has, as a main goal, the involvement of citizens in frontier science, accompanying the gravitational-wave and multi-messenger scientific revolutions in their progress, while strengthening the corresponding links with particle-physics searches (e.g. Dark Matter). It also addresses environmental science, through the natural and synergistic embedding of astroparticle infrastructures in the geosphere and, more generally, the environment. Furthermore, the multi-messenger understanding of the cosmos naturally brings forward multi-sensorial analyses of the data (e.g. extension to sound and acoustics) bringing in turn, inclusion and diversity; extending participation to the visually impaired, confined and senior citizens. It should be clear here, that the increase of the sensorial means of apprehension of reality, e.g. the acoustics, is not only pursued as a means to increase the inclusion of the visually impaired, but it is also considered as a way to increase our perception capability, multiplying the ways we separate signal from background. The same border crossing also happens between the cognitive and the affective and REINFORCE thus addresses issues of art and science. Last, but not least, we hope that the engagement with scientific practice brings forward elements of critical thinking, an urgent task in these times of media inflation and digital connectivity.
In this effort, REINFORCE faces the challenge of trying, in an implementation as a two-way process, to: avoid the “instrumentalisation” of the citizen, using them as a classifying machine; effectively mix human and algorithmic methods (e.g. machine learning); help them to properly separate the correlational from the causal; avoid simplistic “illustration” in both multi-sensorial and art and science representation; accompany citizens in the process, through initiatives involving presence, hangouts and collectively, for both experts and citizens, enhance the effort to distinguish signal from background noise.
The four demonstrators of the REINFORCE project (Credits: REINFORCE)
Which projects are part of REINFORCE? In addition, can you shortly explain the tasks the citizen scientist need to fulfil in these projects?
There are four projects, the gravitational-wave (GW) detector Virgo, at the European Gravitational Observatory, the high-energy neutrino-telescope, KM3Net, the ATLAS experiment at CERN and a muography project for geoscientific, archaeological and industrial infrastructure mapping. Regarding the specific tasks, let us start with Virgo. While the black-hole and neutron-star events detected follow specific General Relativity templates, used to identify the signal and also to extract the merger parameters, there are also transient events, “glitches” in the data, that are usually not related to astrophysical sources, but instead are caused by local disturbances, either technical or environmental, affecting the data quality and detection. So one of the tasks, for both GW experts and citizens, is to detect and classify glitches, that exhibit complex morphologies, to find their correlations and origin and remove them. A scientific discovery is not impossible, e.g. a supernova event would manifest itself as a glitch, and we have, from time to time, excitements of this sort. Machine Learning is also a promising tool to classify complex time-frequency patterns of glitches, and human input is required to train machine-learning models. An analogous task is performed in the KM3Net project, where citizen scientists help classify bioluminescence and bio-acoustic waveforms, forming the background for neutrino searches. In parallel, and changing point of view, these studies, address the issues of biodiversity of the deep sea. Pelagic and benthic bioluminescent organisms communicate through light. Cetaceans communicate through acoustic signalling, giving information on their sex, size and age. Here also, machine-learning algorithms can be of help. The two other projects concern tracking methods at the Atlas/LHC or cosmic rays, and the citizen scientist’s task is to go beyond the simple tracking algorithms, towards the identification of extra features, displaced vertices indices of new physics in LHC or extra hit signs of showering activity in the muography project. Here the citizens help to improve the search and reconstruction algorithms. In the muography case, again the relationship with environment, through the correlation of cosmic rays with nebulosity, atmospheric pressure etc. is an aspect of the task and can become a distributed activity around the schools of a region.
It is important to note here, that the above tasks profit from two important assets: a) the fact that they will be deployed in Zooniverse, currently the most visited citizen science platform in the world, whose initiator Chris Lintott and his group at Oxford University are partners in REINFORCE; b) the fact that data will be represented in both visual and acoustic forms, enhancing the classification and perception capabilities of both the expert scientists and the citizen scientists. In the second task, we are privileged to have the help of Wand Merced Diaz and Beatriz Garcia (of the sonoUno project) for the sonification of astronomical data. Wanda Merced Diaz, in particular, is a blind astronomer, who has for many years been leading a movement for the sonification of astronomical data, not only in the spirit of increasing inclusion, but also in the spirit of enhancing human perception potential. This last characteristic is special to the REINFORCE effort and distinguishes it for instance from the equally potent Gravity Spy project, authored by LIGO scientists, and which is already deployed in Zooniverse.
Sketch of the KM3NeT detector which is one of the large scale research infrastructures that join citizen science with the Deep Sea Hunters project. (Credits: KM3Net)
What events do you plan in the future?
We are currently finishing the beta version of our software, and we plan to have a full functioning environment for all four projects by the middle of 2021. The presentation of these citizen science environments will be inaugurated in summer 2021. Beyond the sprints and hangouts, that will necessarily accompany the participating citizens, we hope to also hold face-to-face meetings and we will continue to organise the series of workshops and “multiplying” events that have taken place this year and where the emphasis is on interactivity and feedback from the citizen scientists.
Furthermore, as I said above, for astroparticle physics, citizen science is naturally connected to a series of other themes: multi-messenger astrophysics, environmental and geoscience synergy, multi-sensorial development, art and science and critical thinking.
Regards multi-messenger physics, we are related to many other astroparticle physics efforts, that are also supported by other EU-funded projects (ESCAPE, ASTERICS) and, since our final deliverable is a roadmap for the field, we will try to coordinate with similar efforts towards this. APPEC is, of course, a perfect environment for this since the field has so many opportunities for exciting citizen science, through the plethora of open-data from gravitational waves to Vera Rubin/LSST maps. We will also organise, in the context of the EU-funded AHEAD2020 programme, workshops on multi-messenger physics, in 2021 and 2022; they will be an occasion to associate a citizen science element to the agenda.
This citizen-science roadmap should be in synergy with nearby science domains, particle and nuclear physics and astrophysics, eventually in the context of JENAS, but also, and in particular, geoscience and environment, with which we have been recently witnessing a convergence on many tools and concepts, from instrumentation to theory. This is even more so given that, in the first year of operation, we have been able to realise, through the many invitations we have received to present our programme (e.g. at the EU German Presidency event on Sustainable Development Goals through Citizen Science) that environmental and citizen-science themes will become a central framework, within which research and education opportunities will develop in the post-pandemic era.
A large number of activities will also be naturally centred on sonification. We are extremely happy that Wanda Merced Diaz will join the EGO staff in early 2021. Through her guidance, we are in contact with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), as well as NASA and ESA experts on the sonification of astrophysical data. Furthermore, in the context of the sonification work, we have entered into contact with a series of “acousmatic” artists, and here also an art and science exhibition, along the spirit of “The Rhythm of Space”, which we organised in 2019, is under discussion. Last, but not least, we are in contact with Saul Perlmutter, whose “Big ideas Berkeley” critical-thinking course, “Sense and Sensibility in Science” has been an important inspiration for REINFORCE, in order to implement an equivalent European activity, using citizen-science data obtained above as first material.
Illustration of the so called glitches which should be recognized in the Gravitational Wave noise hunting project. (Credits: EGO)
It is statistically observed that the participation to Citizen Science activities decrease often exponentially. How do you think we can keep the citizen engaged and attract his/her long-term interest in activities?
We are lucky to have in REINFORCE, beyond the research actors (EGO, INFN (Italy), CNRS (France), University of Pisa (Italy), CONICET (Argentina), IASA (Greece)) a series of expert organisations, in education, engagement and citizen science (University of Oxford (UK), Open University (UK), Ellino-germaniki Agogi (Greece), ZSI – Center for Social Innovation (Austria), Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal (Belgium), and the company Trust-IT) addressing the citizen-science engagement-strategy. This brings in parallel to the software development of the demonstrators, a large effort aimed at raising awareness and sustainability, in website building, webinars, communication material and social media.
In the context of this strategy definition, after an extensive study of bibliography and definition of criteria, a census (300 persons) was launched covering many countries and types of citizen scientist (from education to the general citizen) addressing key questions: Who are the potential citizen scientists that can be engaged in REINFORCE? How do we engage different target groups? Can we balance user inclusiveness and scientific productivity in the design and implementation of the REINFORCE demonstrators? What are the demonstrator design considerations to achieve such a balance? How can citizen motivation be sustained over time? What are the needs of different target groups? The first results of the survey show that a) respondents’ interest is high and that no significant changes are observed between demonstrators; b) motivations relevant to social standing and sharing with colleagues and social media do not seem as important as “helping to make discoveries” and “expecting to learn a lot about cutting edge science”; c) participants with prior experience in citizen science are (more) motivated by the opportunity to contribute to scientific research, by the opportunity to work with new data and feel more confident than the average to contribute in the project tasks; d) participants with strong scientific background display the same characteristics, with the addition that they “feel good to be involved in scientific research and are fascinated that they might make discoveries.”; e) “getting feedback”, “understanding the scientific impact of their work”, “receiving training” and using an “interface that is easy to manipulate” can be considered as the most important factors that can influence their sustained engagement. The results of the study are used to shape the project’s activities to design different, more targeted and appropriate engagement activities to successfully engage, train and retain them in the demonstrator project(s) for a longer period of time.
Do you also evaluate the impact of your Citizen Science projects?
Here we profit from the expert help of ZSI – the Center for Social Innovation (Austria), that has prepared a thorough plan, using state of the art methodology, based on a precise definition of inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact, to elaborate an impact-assessment strategy, including questionnaires, but also self-assessment, live interaction, pre- and post-involvement.
I would like to close on a series of more general thoughts. It is clear that after COVID-19 we are entering a new era, where communication and digital connectivity is becoming the definition of our social space-time, while in parallel Earthly and biological space-time-matter are at a critical point. We have also seen in the past months, examples of political/societal life around the world becoming more and more dependent on publicity-inspired mass-persuasion techniques, developing ambiguous relations to science and critical thinking. In parallel, researchers and teachers themselves suddenly became an ambiguous centre of attention. The content of academic research and education has also come under discussion. On the positive side, the pandemic brought teachers, digitally, in to the home. Families started to realise their role, the work of high-school teachers started to be recognised, breaking the ideologically dangerous “vendor-client” model of education. We academics should also admit that, in recent years, research and education have followed separate paths of specialisation, that have undoubtedly given great advances in science and technology, but also a sense of isolation to enthusiastic teachers attempting to communicate science in schools.
Once more, the proper embedding of humanity in the cosmos is in question, where the ancient notion of cosmos covers, as in antiquity, not only the Universe, but also the geosphere, society and the internal cosmos. A new synthesis of Research and Education, in the most general sense, is needed. I think that we are not alone in realising this. These facts were also remarked upon by the very inspiring article by Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford on “Post-pandemic science and education”, (https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1119/10.0001390) where they even formulated a general call: “we scientists must now begin to think seriously about rebuilding our nation and society in the post-Covid era.“
In conclusion, there is plenty of interesting work in the citizen-science field for APPEC and for our newly-elected chair, Andreas Haungs, and General Secretary, Katarina Henjes-Kunst, to whom I seize the opportunity to wish a rich and productive mandate.
Stavros Katsanevas, currently Director of the European Gravitational Observatory (since 2018) and professor exceptional class at University of Paris, was born in 1953 in Athens. He has been assistant professor and professor at the Universities of Athens and Lyon, as well as CERN fellow and associate. He has worked in experiments on QCD, e+e-, supersymmetry and neutrinos at Fermilab (E537), CERN (ISR,PS180,DELPHI,OPERA) and the NESTOR high energy neutrino observatory. He has served as deputy director of the National Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics (IN2P3) of CNRS (2002-2012); coordinator of the first ASPERA EU funded network of Astroparticle Physics (2006-2009); first chairman of APPEC (2012-2014); director of the Laboratory of Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology (APC) of IN2P3/CNRS-Paris Diderot-CEA-Observatoire de Paris (2014-2017) and co-director of the Astrophysics-Geophysics Laboratory of Excellence UnivEarths. He has also served as chair and co-chair of the European Gravitational Observatory Council (2002-2012); and chair of the Finance Board of the Auger Observatory (2011-2014).
Interview with Andreas Haungs and Katharina Henjes-Kunst
On December 9 at the General Assembly Meeting, a new Chair and a new General Secretary were appointed. The new Chairperson of the General Assembly (GA), which is the strategic and decision-making supervisory body, is Andreas Haungs who follows Teresa Montaruli. The new General Secretary Katharina Henjes-Kunst, following Job de Kleuver, now chairs the Joint Secretariat (JS), which is the executive body of APPEC. Both have long been closely engaged with APPEC and we are looking forward working with them in the next two years. In this interview they will tell us a bit about themselves and about their vision for the future of APPEC.
“APPEC can only be successful if there is close interaction between the three pillars GA, JS, and SAC. This is the recipe for APPEC’s success and I look forward to a functional and lively exchange between these three bodies.” Andreas Haungs, new APPEC Chair
What were your first thoughts and feelings when you found out about your election?
Andreas: The first thought was surprise at the result of the election, but this quickly turned into gratitude for the trust placed in me and joy at the exciting work ahead. The second thought was then directed to the excellent work of Teresa and Job in recent years with the desire and hope to carry on the very positive momentum for APPEC and continue to capitalize on it.
Katharina: When I heard that I was elected, I was very excited about the challenge of coordinating the working level of APPEC. I know that there are some big tasks ahead of us in APPEC in the next two years and I hope that with the strength of all APPEC partners we will successfully accomplish them. So I was happy and at the same time tense about the responsibility that is now coming my way.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your connection to astroparticle physics and to APPEC?
Andreas: As a trained particle physicist I joined the KASCADE high-energy cosmic-ray experiment in 1993 for my PhD. Since then I have been an astroparticle physicist with main and often leading activities in air-shower experiments like KASCADE-Grande, LOPES, the Pierre Auger Observatory and JEM-EUSO. The current basis of my research studies is the IceCube Observatory and since last year, I am involved in preparations for the Einstein Telescope. In all these experiments, my activities were directed always towards the whole life cycle of an experiment: From the development of suitable detectors to data analysis and making the scientific data sustainable and usable for the public. Beside the lead of a research group at KIT, I also can provide some experience in science management: I am manager of the KIT part of the Helmholtz research program “Matter and the Universe” and I serve as the elected co-chair of the German Committee for Astroparticle Physics. For APPEC I was active in the SAC between 2013 and 2017 as representative for cosmic rays. I am a member of the APPEC GA since 2018 representing KIT.
“I know that there are some big tasks ahead of us in APPEC in the next two years and I hope that with the strength of all APPEC partners we will successfully accomplish them.” Katharina Henjes-Kunst, new General Secretary
Katharina: In 2006 I started in the Technology Transfer Division of DESY for an FP 6 funded EU project (ERID-Watch1) to investigate the socio-economic impact of research infrastructures. Of course, in this tim I had contact to astroparticle physics research infrastructures, so I have visited MAGIC I in this time. Already in 2010 I became part of the EU funded ERA-NET ASPERA II for the coordination of European astroparticle physics and contributed significantly to topics like reports on research funding in astroparticle physics in Europe and several technology fora. This led to my last project, an EU project on the coordination of photosensor development in Europe (SENSE). I was coordinator of this project for three years, until it was successfully completed in 2019.
At the same time, I moved to the DESY astroparticle division and was part of a group who established a PhD school on Multimessenger astronomy (Helmholtz Weizmann Research School on Multimessenger Astronomy) and I am active in the coordination of the division, in this position I was again part of the APPEC JS during the last year.
Andreas, where do you see the most important challenge for astroparticle physics in the next years?
Andreas: Astroparticle physics is meanwhile an established field of research that encompasses a very broad spectrum of experimental and theoretical activities. In this sense spectrum refers not only to the content of the topics in astroparticle physics, but also to the variance in the size of the initiatives. Astroparticle physics ranges from small-scale experiments in laboratories to global large-scale observatories – addressing the entire range is important and necessary for overall success. Plans for large-scale global projects exist in all of our astroparticle physics domains (gamma ray and neutrino astronomy, gravitational wave research, or dark matter searches, to name a few examples) and it is a major challenge to guide and support the technological and structural developments, as well as the funding, towards these large-scale projects.
How do you see the role of APPEC, and especially the GA, to overcome this challenge?
I see the main task of APPEC on the control of the phase transition from small and medium sized experiments to large infrastructures across national borders. The selection of prioritized experiments for this transition must be scientifically sound and is the responsibility of the SAC. Only such a process ensures that the available resources are used optimally and that new possible resources can be made available. In particular, since there is no CERN, ESO, ESA or any other centre in European astroparticle physics that can perform these coordination tasks, coordination must be the responsibility of the APPEC GA.
What other topics would you like to address in the next two years?
Andreas: I see a focus of the upcoming term in the mid-term evaluation of the APPEC Roadmap with discussion of the results with the entire European astroparticle physics community and the culmination of this process, the targeted Town Meeting in Berlin in 2022. Furthermore, I see focal points of the activities in the continuation of the successful Technology Forum for synergetic work with the industry, as well as the interdisciplinary activities in the framework of JENAA. I also want to pay special attention to a structured global digitization of astroparticle physics, as well as a further strengthening of outreach, training and diversity in the research field.
Katharina, how can the Joint Secretariat support the General Assembly?
Katharina: Last year, a group of APPEC partners came together to reinvigorate the APPEC working level. Strengthening the working level must be the first step to fully support the activities that will be decided in the General Assembly. A regular consultation between Andreas Haungs and me is necessary to support the GA well. But I am sure that this will work out well – Andreas and I have already worked together very well on many projects before.
Beside this, what are the tasks you intend to work on with the Joint Secretariat?
Katharina: As already stated the first step is to reinvigorate the APPEC working level. Especially the year 2020 has shown us how important it is to be able to work in a distributed way – APPEC has established this early. I support the model of the distributed APPEC structure, with the so-called Functional Centers (FC) in different European countries. On the working level I would like to revive the Functional Centers with the support of the respective countries and establish a Joint Secretariat with more working power.
A central goal for me is to establish a successful and exciting Town Meeting in 2022 as exchange for the astroparticle physics community. The Town Meeting is intended to inform the community about the status of the implementation of the APPEC Roadmap and to provide space to discuss new developments. In the run-up to the Town Meeting I would like to encourage a Europe-wide discussion process to prepare the contents of the Town Meeting.
The support and guidance of European astroparticle physics communities in the set-up of new large infrastructures is an important task of APPEC. This is in particular relevant for the Einstein Telescope Project in the coming years which I want to specifically focus on in the coming years.
And of course, there are many, many more topics to support, just to mention all the activities which were already started with Teresa Montaruli and Job de Kleuver…
How important is the interplay and cooperation between the GA and the JS and also with third body of APPEC, the Scientific Advisory Committee?
Katharina: The APPEC SAC gives major input to APPEC – therefor the cooperation between all three APPEC bodies has to be strong. I was impressed by the report the SAC chair gave during the last GA meeting and I´m looking forward to work with the SAC on the APPEC Town Meeting and of course also all other topics.
Andreas: APPEC can only be successful if there is close interaction between the three pillars GA, JS, and SAC. This is the recipe for APPEC’s success and I look forward to a functional and lively exchange between these three bodies.
More broadly, what do you wish for the future of APPEC?
Katharina: I wish that APPEC will continue on the path to a vibrant federation of astroparticle physics in Europe and that it will be able to help shape the foundations for future developments in astroparticle physics over the next two years.
Andreas: The funding programs for astroparticle physics are very uneven throughout Europe and often embedded in larger research areas such as particle physics or astronomy. Especially for the large research infrastructures, an internationally operating network with coordination tasks is necessary. This is the broad field of action for APPEC. We need this strong body in Europe with high visibility and worldwide recognition.
Thanks to both of you and all the best for the coming two years.
And we want to especially thank the former Chair Teresa Montaruli and General Secretary Job de Kleuver for their work during the past years!
Teresa Montaruli and Job de Kleuver during an unexpected meeting at the Geneva airport.
On 9 December, the APPEC General Assembly came together for an online Meeting. The meeting was opened by a welcome from the APPEC Chair Teresa Montaruli and the General Secretary Job de Kleuver.
The first topic was on Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, as follow-up of the sub-committee report, and how to develop a common strategy for future experiments, not only within Europe but also globally. Montaruli reported from a meeting with interested funding agencies from several European countries. But since coordination between North America and Europe seems to be necessary and a global approach is desired we aim for a European-North American Summit to achieve collectively a global investment strategy for the achievement of at least 2 projects for the 10-20 meV reach. A joint resolution document, signed by Funding Agencies, should be developed.
Then the approach towards a more sustainable APPEC was discussed. Supported by the current situation, in which we have all learned to work together online, the idea of a distributed workforce is to be implemented. The most active APPEC partners agreed to indicate dedicated people for such a distributed workforce, initially as in-kind contribution. The new General Secretary should then implement a more detailed division of tasks and lead the renewed APPEC Workforce and should also prepare a renewed funding model for discussion in the next year.
Screenshot during the APPEC General Assembly (Credits: APPEC)
After a short break the SAC Chair Sijbrand de Jong reported from the last SAC-meeting. one of the two main topics was on the Direct Dark Matter Detection sub-committee. An online Community feedback meeting to discuss the draft report with all stakeholders (in the wider APP community) is planned for 2 February 2021, further information is available here. After implementing the community feedback, a final report should be ready in March 2021 for approval by the General Assembly.
De Jong additionally reported on the other main topic, the status of the mid-term review of the APPEC Roadmap, which will serve as a basis for discussion at the planned APPEC Town Meeting.
This was a fitting lead in to the planning status of this very Town Meeting, which was the next agenda item. Since it was agreed that the Town Meeting should be held on site in Berlin, it was agreed to postpone it until early 2022. A more detailed planning for the Town Meeting preparations, including the option for input from national APP communities, will be discussed in a next General Assembly meeting.
The last topic before the lunch break was then the election of a new APPEC Chair and a new General Secretary (GS). Out of the three candidates available for the Chairperson, Andreas Haungs was elected as the new Chair for a fixed term of two years and Katharina Henjes-Kunst was appointed as the new GS for a first term of two years. The General Assembly thanked former Chair Teresa Montaruli and Co-Chair Christian Stegmann for their work in the last two years and highly appreciated the supportive work of former GS Job de Kleuver. The new Chair and GS were congratulated on their election and all look forward to continuing to work in good cooperation.
The next agenda item was a report from the Joint Secretary on the actions since the last meeting, including a status report on the APPEC Technology Forum (which is postponed until autumn 2021), on Communications and Outreach, common fund payments and the budget and meetings plan for 2020/2021.
Finally a report of joint ECFA-NuPECC-APPEC activities was given by Teresa Montaruli. Further information on these common activities are also available from this website http://nupecc.org/jenaa/ and were presented in an article in the last APPEC newsletter: Joint ECFA-NuPECC-APPEC activities
This agenda item was concluded by a report from the two chairs, Marek Lewitowicz from NuPECC and Jorgen d’Hondt from ECFA about their respective Consortia/ Committee.
As this was the last agenda item, Teresa Montaruli and Job de Kleuver closed the meeting with the best wishes for the coming holidays.
The CPPM team next to the junction box. Credits: KM3NeT
The three boats on site. Credits: KM3NeT
Another KM3NeT/ORCA detector deployment campaign in the Mediterranean was brought to a conclusion in October 2020. A second junction box (JB) has been successfully connected to the KM3NeT/ORCA seafloor network. The JB was deployed to within a metre of its nominal position at a depth of 2450 m.
The JB provides the power to the Detection Units (DUs) and distributes/collects the optical fibres used for the data transmission. The main electro-optic cable (MEOC) provides the input power on a single conductor at 3300 VAC which is transformed in the JB to 400 VAC to power the DUs. The power return is via the sea. The JB provides eight wet-mateable output connectors to which the DUs or Earth and Sea Sciences instrumentation (ESS) are connected via so called interlink cables. Four DUs are daisy chained to a single connector, so a single JB can connect up to 32 DUs. The JB was in fact ready since spring 2020 but due to COVID restrictions its connection was delayed until now.
The final configuration of the KM3NeT/ORCA site: N2 is the new junction box. Cable 2 will be the relocated ANTARES MEOC. MII, BJS, NSVT are earth and sea science instrumentation. Credits: KM3NeT
Deploying the junction box. Credits: KM3NeT
The campaign took place from the 16 Oct->24 Oct 2020. The operation was quite complex involving the coordination of three ships; i) The Raymond Croze from Orange Marine which managed the deployment of the junction box and the jointing of the main electro optical cables on the input and output of the junction box. ii) The Castor boat from Foselev Marine which managed the output main electro optical cable which, in a future operation, will be connected to a dedicated ESS junction box. iii) The Onyx boat from Foselev Marine which took care of the precision acoustic positioning of the junction box during its installation on the sea floor.
During the sea operation one end of the output MEOC was transferred from the Castor to the Raymond Croze for jointing (first time we have done that) and then the Castor lowered the output cable in synchronisation with the lowering of the JB. All in all, three joints were made; each joint requiring the splicing of up to 36 optical fibres and taking about 24 hours including encapsulation and X-ray control of the joint. We also had a weather standby of 36 hours.
The connection of the new junction box doubles the capacity of the ORCA seafloor network to connect DUs. In order to complete the ORCA sea floor network two more JBs will be needed; these will be connected to the MEOC currently being used by ANTARES telescope, once it is decommissioned and the extremity of the MEOC rerouted to the KM3NeT/ORCA site.
A short drone video of the deployment part of the sea operation can be viewed here.
On November 4, 2020, the 
