Europe’s astroparticle physicists publish roadmap to the stars

The Astroparticle Physics European Coordination (ApPEC) consortium and the AStroParticle European Research Area (ASPERA) network have together published a roadmap giving an overview of the status and perspectives of astroparticle physics in Europe. This important step for astroparticle physics outlines the leading role that Europe plays in this new discipline – which is emerging at the intersection of particle physics, astronomy, and cosmology.

Grouped together in ApPEC and ASPERA, European astroparticle physicists and their research agencies are defining a common strategic plan in order to gain international consensus on what future facilities will be needed. This rapidly developing field has already led to new types of infrastructure that employ new detection methods, including underground laboratories or use of specially designed telescopes and satellite experiments to observe a wide range of cosmic particles, from neutrinos and gamma rays to dark-matter particles.

Over the past few years, ApPEC and ASPERA have launched an important effort to organize the discipline and ensure a leading position for Europe in this field, engaging the whole astroparticle-physics community. The roadmap is a result of this process, and though still in its first phase, it has started to identify a common policy.

In the process, ApPEC has reviewed several proposals and has recommended engaging in design studies for four large new infrastructures: the Cherenkov telescope array, a new-generation European observatory for high-energy gamma rays; EURECA, a tonne-scale bolometric detector for cryogenic research of dark matter; LAGUNA, a very large detector for proton decay and neutrino astronomy; and the Einstein telescope, a next-generation gravitational-wave antenna. ApPEC has also iterated its strong support for the high-energy neutrino telescope KM3 in the Mediterranean region.

These projects – as well as proposals for tonne-scale detectors for the measurement of neutrino mass, dark-matter detectors and high-energy cosmic-ray observatories – will be discussed and prioritized further in a workshop in Amsterdam on 21–22 September. During the workshop, which 300 European physicists are expected to attend, Europe’s priorities for astroparticle physics will be compared with those in other parts of the world.