Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ChETEC-INFRA (Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos - Infrastructures for Nuclear Astrophysics)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-05-01 al 2022-10-31
ChETEC-INFRA is a Starting Community of 13 Research Infrastructures for Nuclear Astrophysics. This research field lies at the interface between computational astrophysics (infrastructure: supercomputers), astronomy (infrastructure: optical telescopes), and nuclear physics (infrastructure: small accelerators). The aim of nuclear astrophysics is to understand the origin of the *Ch*emical *E*lements as *T*racers of the *E*volution of the *C*osmos. Hence the acronym. The ChETEC-INFRA project aims to network and make accessible its diverse set of infrastructures to researchers, many of them with small groups from small institutions in countries that lack such infrastructures. A strong outreach component to early-career researchers and to high-school students is an integral part of the project. Unified, complimentary infrastructure access, with proposals selected based on scientific excellence, and targeted improvements to the usability of the infrastructures are further highlights.
The diverse set of infrastructures from three disciplines has been successfully unified in a unique access provision system, with so far seven calls for proposals published and reviewed by the ChETEC-INFRA independent user selection panel. The coherence of the consortium is ensured by biweekly, inclusive video conferences, complemented by an annual in-person General Assembly and many topical interactions and meetings. ChETEC-INFRA has turned the COVID-19 restrictions into an opportunity by complementing its rich set of in-person scientific schools with the online-only SNAQs School on Nuclear Astrophysics Questions, with over a thousand attendees in 12 half-day sessions. This has greatly boosted inclusivity across geographical, institution, funding barriers and enabled participation by researchers with health issues or family commitments that would otherwise not have taken part. First tests with remote experiments and remote observations, both with real-time connection, have been successfully performed. In the first year and a half, more than 50 peer-reviewed papers with explicit ChETEC-INFRA acknowledgment have been published, and made available in green or gold open access. All tools and opportunities created by ChETEC-INFRA are made available via the central hub www.chetec-infra.eu
ChETEC-INFRA has been a real help in the progress of nuclear astrophysics, as evidenced by the high number of peer-reviewed publications with explicit project acknowledgment. In addition to the interdisciplinary transnational access which has gotten off to a good start in this Starting Community with well over 20 projects accepted in calls published every three months, there are also a number of structural improvements reached by ChETEC-INFRA.
For the first time, infrastructures from all three domains of nuclear astrophysics (observation, experiment, computation) are made accessible in a unified way. Tools to aid users which are not familiar with these infrastructures have been developed and are made available. The central hub for all information in ChETEC-INFRA, the project web site, links to many online courses, data resources, a dedicated Youtube channel, and to project publications - all of these developed in the framework of the project. Several new targets have been developed for the nuclear labs, analysis pipelines for supercomputers, and dedicated abundance corrections and a radial velocity database for the telescopes.
ChETEC-INFRA has developed an exceptionally strong Covid-19 response. The damage to scientific schools for PhD students who could not run due to the global pandemic has been more than compensated by the creation of on-line schools run by the same experts already familiar with the existing nuclear astrophysics schools, reaching a factor of 3-10 more students in many countries worldwide, many of whom would never had had a chance to attend a scientific school otherwise. First tests with remote experiments have started, and the consortium has built a strong cohesion based on video conferences every two weeks. Therefore, when many restrictions were lifted in 2022 and schools and our General Assembly could again run in-presence, the project switched gears smoothly.
For outreach to secondary school students, the well-established tool of a one-day so-called Masterclass taught by a PhD student has been extended, for the first time, to Nuclear Astrophysics in ChETEC-INFRA. The first such class has recently completed and is now being translated to 14+ languages.
For the first time, infrastructures from all three domains of nuclear astrophysics (observation, experiment, computation) are made accessible in a unified way. Tools to aid users which are not familiar with these infrastructures have been developed and are made available. The central hub for all information in ChETEC-INFRA, the project web site, links to many online courses, data resources, a dedicated Youtube channel, and to project publications - all of these developed in the framework of the project. Several new targets have been developed for the nuclear labs, analysis pipelines for supercomputers, and dedicated abundance corrections and a radial velocity database for the telescopes.
ChETEC-INFRA has developed an exceptionally strong Covid-19 response. The damage to scientific schools for PhD students who could not run due to the global pandemic has been more than compensated by the creation of on-line schools run by the same experts already familiar with the existing nuclear astrophysics schools, reaching a factor of 3-10 more students in many countries worldwide, many of whom would never had had a chance to attend a scientific school otherwise. First tests with remote experiments have started, and the consortium has built a strong cohesion based on video conferences every two weeks. Therefore, when many restrictions were lifted in 2022 and schools and our General Assembly could again run in-presence, the project switched gears smoothly.
For outreach to secondary school students, the well-established tool of a one-day so-called Masterclass taught by a PhD student has been extended, for the first time, to Nuclear Astrophysics in ChETEC-INFRA. The first such class has recently completed and is now being translated to 14+ languages.