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Science cluster

ESCAPE - Astronomy, Nuclear and Particle Physics

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.

Research domains:
Astrophysics, Cosmology, Particle or Nuclear Physics
Partner(s):
APC, CNRS/Université Paris Cité
Project team member(s):
Bruno Khélifi (APC, CNRS/IN2P3), Régis Terrier (APC, CNRS/IN2P3), Mathieu Servillat (LUTH, CNRS/INSU), Quentin Remy (MPIK Heidelberg)

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. 

Publications

  • Acero, F., Aguasca-Cabot, A., Barrios-Jiménez, L., Arnesen, T. T. H., Batt, A., Bernete, J., Biederbeck, N., Buchner, J., Bylund, T., Djuvsland, J., Donath, A., Emery, G., Egg, K., Feijen, K., Fröse, S., Galelli, C., Gréaux, L., Khélifi, B., Konrad, J., … Yu, P. (2025). Gammapy: Python toolbox for gamma-ray astronomy (2.0). Zenodo. | DOI

  • The full list of publications making use of Gammapy since the beginning of this OSCARS project (01/07/2025) can be found with this link.

Events

  • 2-6 Sept 2024 | Milan, Italy - Talk: “10 years of Gammapy, open source tools for gamma-ray astronomy”, by R. Terrier et al., at Gamma2024
  • 26-28 Feb 2025 | DESY, Hamburg, Germany - Talk: “Facilitating multi-messenger modelling using Gammapy”, by L. Heckmann et al., at MuMeNTA 2025
  • 14-24 Jul 2025 | Geneva, Switzerland - Poster: “Unlocking the potential of gamma-ray astronomy with Gammapy: current status and roadmap”, by F. Acero et al., at ICRC 2025
  • 1-3 Oct 2025 | Paris, France - Talk: “Facilitating multi-messenger modelling using Gammapy”, by L. Heckmann et al. at ATPEM 2025
  • 3-7 November 2025 | Paris, France - 2nd Cherenkov Astronomy Data School - CADS 2025, funded by the Observatoire de Paris. 3 days of training on Gammapy was made
Keywords
Open research software, science analysis tool, Extreme environments, very-high-energy gamma rays, gravitational waves, fundamental physics, dark matter, multi-messenger astronomy, very-high-energy astrophysics, Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO)
Project start date:
Project duration:
18 months

Principal investigator

Bruno Khélifi - FAIRgamma PI photo
Bruno Khélifi
APC, CNRS/IN2P3
BIO

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/.

QUOTE
"The Gammapy team has the opportunity to participate in OSCARS, which promotes the adoption of Open Science. We plan to significantly improve Gammapy's compliance with the FAIR4RS principles. Thanks to the support of OSCARS, the data generated by Gammapy will comply with FAIR principles."
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