The Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) laboratory in Paris gathers researchers (experimentalists, theorists and observers) working in different areas including high-energy astrophysics,

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

, gravitation, and

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass ...

physics. The institute was founded in January 2005 and soon moved to new campus of

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

in the

Paris Rive Gauche Paris Rive Gauche is a new neighbourhood in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. The district is bordered by the Seine, the railway tracks of Gare d'Austerlitz and the Boulevard Périphérique. This 130 ha plot of lan ...

area. The laboratory is a "Mixed Research Unit" in French terminology, funded by Paris Diderot University, the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

(represented by three of its Institutes: mainly IN2P3, but also INSU and INP), the

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA (French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and securit ...

, and the Paris Observatory. The first director of the laboratory was Pierre Binetruy (2005-2013). From January 2014 until December 2017 the director was Stavros Katsanevas, followed by Sotiris Loucatos, and Antoine Kouchner (since July 2018).

Research activities

Cosmology

This group, headed b
Kenneth Ganga
includes two main areas of research: # Experimental investigation of the cosmic microwave background, including attempts to detect CMB polarization B-modes, which could provide support for the theory of Inflation. Researchers were involved in the

Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...

space mission and are now active in the QUBIC experiment, the Simons Observatory, and the

LiteBIRD ''LiteBIRD'' (''Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection'') is a planned small space observatory that aims to detect the footprint of the primordial gravitational wave ...

satellite. # Cosmological analysis of large spectroscopic and imaging surveys for the determination of constraints on the nature of dark energy. Researchers are involved in the wide-field observatories aimed at understanding the nature of dark energy: the large field Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey telescope, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

space mission

High-energy astrophysics

Research carried out by this group, headed by Anne Lemière, aims at understanding the violent phenomena of the universe (mostly within compact stars,

neutron stars A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...

, or black holes). The group is engaged in many international projects with telescopes or instruments detecting photons, cosmic rays, or neutrinos. For the observation of #

gamma rays A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

, it is involved in the

INTEGRAL In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along wit ...

observatory, the

High Energy Stereoscopic System High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the photon energy range of 0.03 to 100 TeV. The acronym was chosen in honour of Victor ...

, the

Cherenkov Telescope Array The Cherenkov Telescope Array or CTA is a multinational, worldwide project to build a new generation of ground-based gamma-ray instrument in the energy range extending from some tens of GeV to about 300 TeV. It is proposed as an open observatory a ...

, and the

Space Variable Objects Monitor The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a planned small X-ray telescope satellite under development by China National Space Administration (CNSA), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the French Space Agency (CNES), to be launched in the s ...

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...

of ultra-high energy, it is involved in JEM-EUSO #

neutrinos A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass is ...

, it is involved in the

ANTARES Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by σ Scorpii and τ ...

and

KM3NeT The Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, is a future European research infrastructure that will be located at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It will host the next-generation neutrino telescope in the form of a water Cherenkov det ...

projects collaborations #

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nbs ...

, it was involved in the space mission

Hitomi Hitomi may refer to:. People * Hitomi (given name), a feminine Japanese given name * Hitomi (voice actress) (born 1967), Japanese voice actress * Hitomi (singer) (born 1976, as Hitomi Furuya), Japanese singer and songwriter * Hitomi Nabatame (b ...

Neutrinos

The research carried out by this group, headed by Davide Franco, is dedicated to understanding neutrino properties is one of the laboratories' main activities. Researchers are involved in studies of the phenomenon of oscillation (

Borexino Borexino is a particle physics experiment to study low energy (sub-MeV) solar neutrinos. The detector is the world's most radio-pure liquid scintillator calorimeter. It is placed within a stainless steel sphere which holds the photomultiplier t ...

Double Chooz Double Chooz was a short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Chooz, France. Its goal was to measure or set a limit on the ''θ''13 mixing angle, a neutrino oscillation parameter responsible for changing electron neutrinos into other neut ...

) and on future projects addressing the measurement of the neutrino mass hierarchy with atmospheric neutrinos with the deep-sea water Cherenkov telescope Orca and the long-baseline neutrino oscillation project Laguna-LBNO.

Gravitation

This core research of this group led by Stanislav Babak is the direct detection of gravitational waves. The group is involved in both ground-based (

Virgo interferometer The Virgo interferometer is a large interferometer designed to detect gravitational waves predicted by the general theory of relativity. Virgo is a Michelson interferometer that is isolated from external disturbances: its mirrors and instrument ...

) and space-based (

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a proposed space probe to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves—tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime—from astronomical sources. LISA would be the first dedicated space-based gr ...

and its precursor

LISA Pathfinder LISA Pathfinder, formerly Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology-2 (SMART-2), was an ESA spacecraft that was launched on 3 December 2015 on board Vega flight VV06. The mission tested technologies needed for the Laser Interferometer S ...

) instruments.

Theory

This group, headed by Dmitri Semikoz, covers the research topics of the laboratory from a theoretical perspective. It also carries out work on other areas of fundamental physics.

Organization

The staff of the laboratory consists of 75 permanent researchers and over 60 engineers, technicians, and administrative personnel, plus about 125 non-permanent employees (PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, visitors). In addition, the Paris Center for Cosmological Physics directed by

George Smoot George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20, 1945) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, Nobel laureate, and the 2nd contestant to win the $1 million prize on '' Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?''. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics i ...

is also part of the laboratory and one of the three functional centres of the ''Astroparticle Physics European Consortium'' is based here. An "International Associated Laboratory" in astroparticle physics was launched in September 2007. It associates the APC laboratory with the

Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology The Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) is an independent joint laboratory of Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, founded in 2003 by a gift by Fred Kavli and Kavli Foundation (United States ...

( Stanford University).

Evaluation

The laboratory has been evaluated twice by the AERES: in 2008 and in 2013. In the latter evaluation, the lab won excellent scores (A or A+ in all criteria).

Astroparticle Physics European Consortium

''Astroparticle Physics European Consortium'' (APPEC) is a consortium of organizations from European countries that coordinate and fund research in astroparticle physics.

References

External links

*
List of publications by members of the lab
{{authority control Research institutes in France French National Centre for Scientific Research 2005 establishments in France