The KM3NeT Research Infrastructure will, over a period of at least a decade, produce a large amount of unique scientific data that are to be made available to the scientific communities concerned – in particular particle, astroparticle and astrophysics as well as marine sciences – and to the broader general public.

To provide this service, the tools, procedures, documentation and rules were developed in the context of the KM3NeT-INFRADEV project. The goal was to build on the concepts emerging from the preparatory work performed in the FP7 Preparatory Phase project and to closely interface the activities to the H2020 ASTERICS project, which established common standards for open data access amongst astrophysics research infrastructures.

Neutrino data

The KM3NeT neutrino telescope will continuously register neutrinos from the whole sky. The neutrinos of astrophysical interest, i.e. those from extra-terrestrial origin, need to be identified in the background of atmospheric neutrinos, i.e. those created in Earth’s atmosphere by interactions of cosmic-ray particles.

Multi-messenger data

Access to cosmic neutrino data is of high importance for a wide astrophysics community beyond the KM3NeT Collaboration to relate cosmic neutrino fluxes to observations by other neutrino observatories or using other messengers, and to compare them with theoretical predictions.

Atmospheric neutrino data

The atmospheric neutrinos carry information on the particle physics processes in which they are created, and – in particular those registered with KM3NeT/ORCA – on the neutrinos themselves. These data are relevant for a wide astroparticle and particle physics community.

Marine data

In addition, KM3NeT will monitor marine parameters, such as bioluminescence, currents, water properties and transient acoustic signals. Access to these data is to be provided to marine science communities. The raw data, emerging from the on-shore online filtering of the bit stream arriving from the deep sea, require further processing, such as calibration, event reconstruction, and formatting, before they are suitable for external use. These processing steps require an enhanced level of automation, monitoring, quality control, scrutiny and documentation as compared to the corresponding efforts for internal use.

Simulated data

To allow for a meaningful interpretation of the experimental data, simulated data of signal and background processes must be provided. The tools and procedures for providing these different data sets needed to be developed, for the neutrino as well as for the marine data. The data access through an internet interface were implemented and sample analysis programs for users were provided.

Intellectual property rights

Once KM3NeT data are used externally for scientific studies, questions of scrutiny of results, authorship, scientific responsibility and intellectual property rights arise. The corresponding rules and procedures, as well as best-practice cooperation models, have to be worked out, established and documented.

Training of users

The use of KM3NeT data by external scientists requires training, e.g. on the design and functionality of the instrument, the simulation procedures and the event reconstruction algorithms. This training is to be provided through a virtual educational centre which were setup. Furthermore, both newcomers to the KM3NeT Collaboration and external scientists were offered intense, face-to-face training meetings; the contents of and the educational material for these meetings were also prepared.

Generating public data

Based on existing KM3NeT software, the production chain for public data, including the formatting according to ASTERICS standards, was developed for KM3NeT and simulation data. Example usage programs was developed, tested and their provision in a platform-independent way prepared.

The results on Open access to KM3NeT comprises the following deliverables, available in the Project outputs section:

  • D4.1 – KM3NeT Data Management Plan
  • D4.2 – KM3NeT Report on ASTERICS Liaison
  • D4.3 – KM3NeT Report on conceptual design of open data generation, archiving, test programs and access
  • D4.4 – KM3NeT report on virtual education centre and training meetings: Setup, material, tools
  • D4.5 – KM3NeT report on monitoring and quality control setup
  • D4.6 – KM3NeT report on documentation strategy, environment and software
  • D4.7 – KM3NeT report on rules and conditions for data access
  • D4.8 – KM3NeT report on implementation and test of the open data system, including data generation, monitoring, archiving, example programs and access
  • D4.9 – KM3NeT Manuals for all major components of the open data access system
  • D4.10 – KM3NeT Regulations for cooperation models, authorship rights and intellectual property rights
  • D4.11 – KM3NeT Report on implementation and user tests of virtual education centre and on training workshops

KM3NeT-INFRADEV was supported by the European Commission Framework Programme Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action under grant agreement n. 739560.