Testimonials
Already now, before the start of the NFDI funding for PUNCH4NFDI, numerous organisations and facilities have expressed their enthusiasm about the services and developments to be expected from the consortium, and we also present some of these testimonials here.
The PANDA Collaboration at FAIR / GSI:
"The PANDA collaboration strongly supports the application PUNCH4NFDI. The listed task areas are of very high importance for the experiment to successfully collect, process, archive and publish the recorded data. As a medium size experiment it is very hard for PANDA to address all of these topics listed in the application by ourselves. Consequently, we want to contribute with our expertise in various fields and hope for strong synergetic effects between the participating partners, leading to common solutions which will serve all participants and the NFDI in general."
Prof. T. Iijima, spokesperson of the Belle II experiment at SuperKEKB, Japan:
"The Belle II collaboration strongly supports the PUNCH4NFDI proposal. Its work packages address the needs of the Belle II experiment, which performs high precision measurements of particles produced in collisions of electrons and positrons at the SuperKEKB accelerator [and searches] for new laws of physics that would answer some of the open questions in fundamental science.
Germany is one of the strongest countries in the collaboration. Its contribution is vital for the success of the experiment. This holds in particular for the data infrastructure and related services and software developments. If the proposal is accepted, it would be of great benefit to achieve the physics goal of the Belle II experiment." (Belle II support letter (T. Iijima) (PDF, 207KB))
The German "Committee for Astroparticle Physics" (KAT):
"The demand for computing resources for astroparticle physics in Germany will increase considerably in the coming years. Until today the computing for the German flagship experiments (Auger, CTA, IceCube, ET, KATRIN, Gerda/Legend, DARWIN, Multi-Messenger, Theory) is mainly be carried out via institutional or experiment-specific resources. However, a projection into the year 2028 shows an increased demand of about factor 8 in CPU years, factor 20 in GPU years, a factor 5 in disk space and a factor 10 in tape capacity. This requires a new computing model, which must be accompanied by modern research data management and can be developed synergistically within the scientific environment of the NFDI."
Prof. Karl Jakobs, spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment at LHC, CERN
"The multiple and varied task areas laid out in the proposed German National Research Data
Infrastructure (NFDI) consortium, “PUNCH4NFDI” (Particles, Universe, NuClei and Hadrons for the NFDI) exhibit clear synergies with the future working directions in ATLAS computing. The
development of workflows and tools for data management, the adaptation of existing paradigms and protocols and the integration of new infrastructures and technologies are all relevant, as all LHC experiments confront the coming challenges of the HL-LHC. The overarching, broad scope of the planned PUNCH4NFDI programme, with significant cross-disciplinary interaction with other scientific communities, is particularly welcome.
As such, the ATLAS management fully supports the German HEP community in their proposal for the PUNCH4NFDI consortium." (ATLAS Support Letter (K. Jakobs) (PDF, 114KB))
Dr. R.C. Vermeulen (Director, International LOFAR Telescope):
"With great interest, I have learned that the PUNCH4NFDI consortium [...] would welcome the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) to become associated as an International Astronomy Infrastructure. [...] Germany [...] is heavily involved in the ILT by providing 6 antenna stations [...] , by participating in software development, and by providing, through a dedicated high-speed light path, data archive capacity at the Jülich Supercomputer Center.
The ILT [...] scopes out much of “modern science data technology” parameter space [...] , with its advanced sensor technology, coupled to cutting-edge ultra-high volume data connectivity [...] to handle the highly complex task of detecting millions upon millions of extremely faint celestial objects in the presence of a host of perturbing influences on the radio signals. The ILT is excited to see the current developments in Germany in the context of the PUNCH4NFDI consortium, and sees great potential for it as a science enabler with LOFAR data." (LOFAR letter Vermeulen (LOFAR, 315KB))
Prof. C. Parkes (Spokesperson, LHCb Collaboration at the LHC, CERN):
"I am writing in my capacity as LHCb spokesperson to express my strong support for the application PUNCH4NFDI [...] [The experiments at the HL-LHC] lead to large increases in data volumes and complexity, and novel solutions will be required. In addition, the collaboration is committed to sharing our results and data as widely as possible and has just signed a new open data policy. A number of pan-experiment initiatives are currently ongoing to try to tackle the huge issues of the HL-LHC era and in related fields, including recent successful proposals in the US and UK.
The NFDI provides the opportunity to further drive crucial developments in our communities. Furthermore, it emphasises the commonality with other fields of science and prepares the tools to share our experience with these other communities. LHCb wishes to contribute with our expertise and hopes for strong synergetic effects between the participating partners leading to common solutions that will serve all participants and the NFDI in general. I offer my support on behalf of LHCb for this well thought out proposal."
(Letter LHCb (C. Parkes) (PDF, 100KB))
Dr. Luca Malgeri (Spokesperson of the CMS experiment at LHC, CERN):
"The CMS management notes with great satisfaction the engagement of the German HEP community in the PUNCH consortium for the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). The NFDI gives the opportunity to further drive crucial developments in our communities, and at the same time it emphasises the necessity and prepares the tools to share our experience with other communities and other fields of science, for mutual benefit.
CMS fully supports the proposal. The task areas and measures are well aligned with the global strategy that is being pursued with all partners involved in the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid effort (WLCG). CMS acknowledges the engagement by members of thes collaboration in the consortium. A close collaboration will be vital to shape a future infrastructure that allows continued resource contribution from Germany and that keeps German scientist in a well-suited position to contribute significantly to the analysis effort of the collaboration." (NFDI_CMS.pdf (PDF, 72KB))
Prof. N. Hermann (Spokesperson, CBM)
collisions at the future FAIR facility at GSI. The CBM experiment is designed for raw data rates above 1 TByte/s of self-triggered detector data and real-time event selection will be performed in quasi real-time thus enabling the detection of very rare and decisive probes and decay channels. The existing mini-CBM full-system test setup at SIS18 allows testing of all detector subsystem and their integration in a high speed data acquisition system and in the online event selection process, facilitating particularly further developments of the systems under realistic experiment conditions.
The participation of a number of groups with longtime expertise in various fields of nuclear and particle physics within the PUNCH initiative can be a considerable help to accomplish some of the significant computing challenges of CBM. Several task areas of this initiative related to future data selection as well as data management in conjunction with subsequent data transformation and publication are closely related to activities within the CBM collaboration. Various synergies can be anticipated in the phase of developments within the next years for mutual benefit.
Dr. M. Stanitzki, Dr. T. Behnke (Spokespersons SiD and ILD)
The International Linear Collider (ILC) is currently considered as a potential project in HEP beyond the LHC, in line with the European Strategy for Particle Physics.
The SiD and ILD managements note with great satisfaction the engagement of the German HEP community in the proposed German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) consortium, “PUNCH4NFDI” (Particles, Universe, NuClei and Hadrons for the NFDI). The PUNCH4NFDI project provides the excellent opportunity to further drive crucial developments in our communities, particular the preparation of our Technical Design Reports. (DESY_punch4nfdi_support_ILC-2.pdf (PDF, 232KB))
The German "Committee for Nuclear and Hadron Physics" (KHuK):
„The KHuK strongly supports the PUNCH NFDI initiative. The demand for computing resources for nuclear and hadron physics in Germany will increase considerably in the coming years. The upcoming experiments at FAIR as well as at other places like CERN bring substantial challenges in interaction rates, data acquisition and analysis which exceed present capabilities by large factors. This requires a new computing model, which must be accompanied by modern research data management and can be developed in collaboration with other communities in the scientific environment of the NFDI."
Dr. Luciano Musa (Spokesperson of the ALICE experiment at LHC, CERN):
ALICE expresses the strongest support for the consortium "PUNCH4NFDI" proposed within the framework of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). The proposal leverages on the expertise in computing of the German scientific community which is at the forefront of the research in the field of scientific data processing and management and aims at providing the computing and software infrastructures needed to support scientific research on a large scale. (Musa_for_PUNCH4NFDI.pdf (PDF, 231KB))
Prof. Phil Diamond, Direcor General Square Kilometre Array (SKA):
“The SKA will produce so much data (~100 EB/day), that it is impossible to save the raw data products. Hence, ultimately, the SKA output will be completely limited by our ability to cope with this data stream and by the availability of techniques and methods to extract the best science. As such the SKA has a fundamental interest in establishing a Research Data structure. We are excited to see the current development in Germany in the context of the NFDI. I expect that data from SKA will play a hugely important contribution in the science enabled by NFDI in the future and am happy to confirm the support and cooperation of the SKA with the PUNCH4NFDI consortium.”
Michael Kramer (President German Astronomical Society and chair Rat deutscher Sternwarten):
"We believe that the astronomical community represented by the AG will hugely benefit from a successful PUNCH4NFDI consortium. PUNCH@NFDI promises to establish a Research Data Infrastructure, combining particle physics and astronomy and astrophysics with all its sub-fields, that would enormously boost the ability of our members to conduct their research. Especially, astronomers at less equipped institutions would benefit from PUNCH4NFDI. We also very much appreciate PUNCH@NFDI aims to support measures for training, education and outreach, and we look forward to collaborating closely with your consortium. Therefore, we fully endorse and support your coherent efforts in name of the entire German Astronomische Gesellschaft."