FAIRGamma: Contribution for the FAIRisation of Gammapy
Science cluster
Summary
Very-high-energy (VHE) astrophysics is transitioning towards Open Science with the construction of new large Research Infrastructures (RIs), such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and KM3NeT. These observatories will provide open data with a dedicated open data format, and open research software usable by the users. For this software to be fully FAIR-compliant, the FAIRGamma project aims at integrating the FAIR principles into Gammapy, the leading Python library for VHE gamma-ray astrophysics. By enhancing Gammapy’s compliance with FAIR standards, the project will facilitate the generation of interoperable and reusable data, supporting the broader astrophysics community in advancing open and collaborative research across multi-wavelength and multi-messenger platforms.
Challenge
Open Science project, Main RI concerned, Cross-domain/Cross-RI
The data and the open research software deployed at CTA and KM3NeT do not fully adhere to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles yet, particularly for research software (FAIR4RS). Gammapy, the leading Python library in this field, is at the forefront of this challenge, but it still requires improvements to achieve full FAIR compliance.
Solution
Handling FAIR data and generating FAIR data are the core objectives of the project. The FAIRGamma project seeks to make Gammapy FAIR by ensuring that it fully implements the FAIR4RS principles. This implies supporting different versions of the common open data formats of the VHE (GADF/VODF), propagating and generating metadata (including the IVOA provenance) describing the data and the software, and finally finding and accessing FAIR data into the Virtual Observatory.
Scientific Impact
The FAIRisation of Gammapy will be a major milestone for VHE astrophysics, making it the first open scientific library in this domain to generate FAIR astrophysical data. The FAIRGamma project will significantly benefit major European VHE observatories, such as CTA and KM3NeT, as well as their running pathfinders. It will also open new research avenues for physicists studying Extreme Environments, gamma/neutrino counterparts of gravitational waves and fundamental physics, such as dark matter, and multi-messenger astronomy, ensuring that data is reusable and comprehensible both by humans and machines.
Principal investigator
Bruno Khélifi’s research focuses on very high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, with the H.E.S.S. experiment and the CTAO observatory that is currently under construction. Scientifically, my work focuses on the pulsar/pulsar wind nebula system. My instrumental activities are currently associated with data formatting and open software, as convener of the Very-high-energy Open Data Format (VODF) initiative and project manager of the Gammapy library. I am involved into the IVOA, as chair of the High Energy Interest Group (HEIG). See https://bkhelifi.github.io/.
