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Research Networks

Astronomy and astrophysics research is by nature international in scope. Observatoire de Paris-PSL is a key player in the regional, national and international research ecosystem, through its active involvement and driving role in a number of collaborative research networks and structures.

Regional scale

The Major Research and Innovation Domains of the Ile-de-France region

The Ile-de-France region supports research in the region by funding 9 DIMs for the period 2022-2026. These DIM identify themes deemed to be promising, and around which a whole network (of universities, higher education establishments, research laboratories and companies) has been set up. The Major Research and Innovation Domains follow on from the Major Interest Domains, emphasizing the innovation dimension of these new networks, and the inclusion of companies in their governance and projects.

DIM ORIGINS

Observatoire de Paris-PSL is a member of the DIM ORIGINES, which brings together 27 Paris Region laboratories, CNES, two Paris Region competitiveness clusters (ASTech Paris Region and Systematic), 3 Paris Region companies (3D Plus, ACRI-ST, Thales LAS-SRA), and two major associations in the field, the Association Française d’Astronomie (AFA) and the Société Astronomique de France (SAF). The DIM ORIGINES reflects the determination of its 2,600 members to pool their expertise and know-how in the highly interdisciplinary field of astronomy, focusing on three areas of innovative development: detection chains, laboratory experimentation and digital technology in the age of Big Data. The DIM ORIGINES has a budget of more than €12 million over 5 years.

DIM QuanTIP

Observatoire de Paris-PSL, through its LTE laboratory, is also a member of the DIM QuanTIP, Quantum Technologies in Paris Region, supported by CNRS (Délégation Ile-de-France Villejuif), which federates a group of world-class academic teams and a pool of start-ups and companies in the Paris region in the competitive field of quantum technologies, in order to develop cutting-edge application technologies and accelerate the transfer of quantum technologies to industry through a dedicated commercialization program.

Nanosat Research Federation

The Nanosat research federation aims to enable major scientific advances in Earth and Universe Sciences through the use of nanosatellites. Capitalizing on the wealth of experience of each partner and their human and technical resources, the federation aims to boost the dynamism of the Earth and Universe Sciences nanosatellite scientific community by (1) developing scientific and technical objectives, (2) meeting the challenges of NewSpace, and (3) federating and developing the nanosatellite community in the Paris region. The federation was accredited by INSU in 2023. It is made up of the Observatoire de Paris-PSL, its LIRA, LTE and LUX laboratories and its Pôle d’Expertise CENSUS, the LP-ENS, the IPGP, the APC, the Pôle Spatial de l’Université Paris-Cité, the LATMOS, the IAP, the Centre Spatial de Sorbonne Université, the LISA and the Centre Spatial de l’Université Paris Est Créteil.

Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris

The FSMP aims to make Paris the most attractive center for mathematical sciences for the best students and researchers from all over the world, to foster collaboration between mathematical science researchers and the worlds of business and industry, and to develop general interest in mathematics. It federates 14 mathematical science laboratories and 23 Inria teams, bringing together 1800 researchers including 900 permanent staff, including 3 Fields medallists, 20 Academicians and numerous national and international prize-winners. The team Astronomy and Dynamic Systems at LTE is a member of this network.

National scale

Priority Research Programs and Equipment (PEPR)

The PEPR are research support schemes included in the France 2030 investment plan, which aim to build or consolidate French leadership in scientific fields linked or likely to be linked to a technological, economic, societal, health or environmental transformation, and considered a priority at national or European level. They are managed by national research organizations.

Observatoire de Paris-PSL is involved in several of them:

  • The Exploratory PEPR Origins - from planets to life, led by the CNRS and launched in 2023, has a budget of €45.5M over 7 years to advance six lines of research in the theme of the Origins of planets and life, by developing several innovative projects;
  • The Quantum Technologies Accelerator PEPR, led by CNRS, CEA and INRIA and launched in 2022, has a budget of €150M over 5 years to support research efforts from fundamental research to proof of concept. It constitutes the upstream part of the national acceleration strategy dedicated to quantum technologies;
  • The PEPR d’accélération Electronique, led by CNRS and CEA and launched in 2023, has a budget of €86 million over 5 years. It aims to generate innovations to accelerate growth and relocate certain production to France or Europe, thanks to new technological solutions.
  • The PEPR NumPEX - Haute Performance pour l’Exascale, led by CEA, CNRS and INRIA and launched in 2023, brings together 5 Exascale-focused projects that will couple high-performance computing, massive data analysis and artificial intelligence, and accelerate the production of knowledge by integrating research, applications and hardware and software technologies. NumPEX has a budget of €40.8 million over 6 years.

Research Infrastructures

Observatoire de Paris-PSL leads two research infrastructures listed in the MESR roadmap: REFIMEVE and LOFAR/NenuFAR (see below). It is also supervisor or partner of 7 other research infrastructures:

LOFAR/NenuFAR

LOFAR is the first large "digital" radio telescope to extend radio observations to the lowest frequencies (30 to 240 MHz) and highest angular resolution accessible at these frequencies from the ground. Its main scientific objectives are cosmology, galaxy clusters, cosmic magnetic fields, cosmic radiation, the Sun, planets, and the variable universe (pulsars, black holes and high-energy sources, planets and exoplanets). It comprises 52 stations, including one in France, at the Observatoire Radioastronomique de Nançay. NenuFAR is also a very large low-frequency radio telescope, based at Nançay, optimized for the entire 10-85 MHz band. It can simultaneously be connected to LOFAR as a replacement for the French low-frequency antennas, acting as a superstation for LOFAR, whose sensitivity and other characteristics it will greatly enhance. NenuFAR can operate independently and simultaneously as a stand-alone instrument with specific scientific programming. These two instruments were accredited as a research infrastructure in 2011, supported by the CNRS, Université d’Orléans and Observatoire de Paris-PSL.

REFIMEVE

REFIMEVE enables the stability and accuracy of LTE’s national time-frequency references to be disseminated via RENATER’s fiber-optic network. REFIMEVE is supported by Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Observatoire de Paris-PSL and CNRS. Numerous disciplinary fields are likely to benefit from the dissemination of these frequency references: time/frequency metrology and the opening up of a new disciplinary field, chronometric geodesy, fundamental physics on Earth and in space, precision spectroscopy applied to the environment and atmospheric physics. The instrument and its associated technologies could also be used to measure the Earth’s rotation, or as an ultra-sensitive, long-range seismic sensor.

REFIMEVE has been accredited as a national research infrastructure by the MESR since 2022, in the cross-disciplinary field of time metrology, attached to the Matter Science and Engineering domain, with a secondary attachment to the Astronomy and Astrophysics domain. The infrastructure is also supported by the EquipEx REFIMEVE+ (2012-24) and the EquipEx+ T-REFIMEVE (2021-29), the latter aiming to provide the scientific community and industry with a complete set of time and frequency signals at the highest international level. An extension of REFIMEVE on a European scale is envisaged via the European CLONETS-DS project, Clock Network Services - Design Study.

CNRS Research Federations

FIRST-TF

The CNRS Research Federation FIRST-TF brings together 22 laboratories, 27 manufacturers, 4 agencies and technical centers, and 5 consulting firms, with the aim of helping to coordinate the French Time-Frequency community by defining collective scientific objectives and structuring the community, mainly through scientific leadership, and support for R&D activities, technology and know-how transfer, and training. The federation is supported by a Labex of the same name, managed by the CNRS and renewed for the period 2020-24 with a budget of €3.1 million. Observatoire de Paris-PSL is involved through the LTE laboratory, which hosts the network’s management team.

Plas@PAR

The Plas@PAR CNRS Research Federation groups 13 laboratories and 150 members around 6 research themes federating activities in plasma science. Observatoire de Paris-PSL is one of the federation’s three supervisory bodies (along with Sorbonne Université and Ecole Polytechnique), and is involved through the LIRA, LUX, and LPP laboratories. The federation took over from the Labex of the same name in 2020, and continues to support research, training and scientific mediation in these fields.

CNRS thematic networks

The CNRS, through its institutes, is setting up research networks to structure collaborative research in various fields, among which the Groupement de Recherche GdR Ondes Gravitationnelles, in which LTE and LUX teams are involved.

Internationale scale

European research projects

Teams at Observatoire de Paris-PSL are leading or collaborating on numerous research projects funded by European research framework programs. Consult the list of these projects here.

CNRS international networks and projects

IRP (International Research Projects) and IRN (International Research Networks) are international cooperation tools shared by CNRS.

IRPs are collaborative research projects set up between one or more CNRS laboratories and laboratories in one or two foreign countries. They consolidate established collaborations through short or medium-term scientific exchanges. These programs run for 5 years.

IRN programs aim to structure an international scientific community around a shared theme or research infrastructure. Lasting 5 years, they bring together researchers from one or more French laboratories, including at least one CNRS laboratory, and several partner laboratories abroad.

Observatoire de Paris-PSL supports several IRPs and IRNs through the involvement of its research teams:

  • IRN ELGAR - European Laboratory for Gravitation and Atom-interferometric Research , launched in 2023, in which LTE teams are involved;
  • IRN Tianguan, focusing on transiting skies and high-energy astrophysics, as well as galactic and extragalkactic astronomy, launched in 2020, and involving LIRA teams;
  • IRN NECo - Network for Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology, launched in 2020, involving teams from LUX;
  • IRP ERIDANUS-2 - Exploring the deep and transient universe, launched in 2023, involving LUX teams;
  • IRP ACNu - The origin of heavy elements in the Universe: compact stars and nucleosynthesis, launched in 2021, involving teams from LUX.

European consortium

Members of LUTh are involved in the European consortium EuCPAT, which brings together the European community of theoretical astroparticle physicists and cosmologists. EuCPAT aims are to increase the exchange of ideas and knowledge, coordinate scientific and training activities, help scientists attract adequate resources for their projects, and promote a stimulating, fair and open environment in which young scientists can thrive.