President Michel Cosnard

Erik Goormaghtigh

Bruno Mr

Miroux

Erik Mr

Goormaghtigh

Ms Christelle Breton

Ms Marie-Thérèse Giudici Orticoni

Mr Olivier Berteau

Mr Hugues

INTRODUCTION HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF THE UNIT

The UMR 7099 is located at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology (IBPC) within the Paris Sciences Lettres University campus that brings together the École Normale Supérieure, the Curie Institute, Institut Henri Poincaré, Chimie-ParisTech and several other engineer schools. The unit is also close to the Collège de France and Paris Descartes Pharmacy University, with which it has institutional collaborations. The unit has been associated for more than 20 years with Paris-Diderot University Biology Department (UFR).

MANAGEMENT TEAM

The laboratory is headed by Mr Bruno MIROUX with assistance of a financial manager.

HCERES NOMENCLATURE

SVE2 Biologie Cellulaire, Imagerie, Biologie Moléculaire, Biochimie, Génomique, Biologie Systémique, Développement, Biologie Structurale.

SCIENTIFIC DOMAIN

The unit has a strong focus on fundamental mechanisms of membrane protein functions and membrane dynamics. In particular, it has developed considerable skills in energy coupling and supramolecular assembly of electron transfer chain, in molecular signalling of GPCR and in the transport and membrane dynamic in bacteria. The unit has also created outstanding tools for the study of membranes at the molecular level.

UNIT WORKFORCE

GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIT

This evaluation covers the last five years of this research unit. The publication policy of the unit resulted in the production of a very good number of publications with a very high impact factor. The dissemination of the unit results was further strengthened by presentations at numerous international conferences and the organization of conferences. In addition, the unit has also "invented" and developed a new class of molecules, the amphipols, which represent today a key tool for the study of membrane proteins, in particular by cryo-EM. Currently, this tool is used worldwide. Finally, the committee underscores the quality of the management that provided excellent work conditions, with no exception, whatever the category of personnel.

The evaluation reports of Hceres are available online : www.hceres.com

Evaluation of clusters of higher education and research institutions Evaluation of higher education and research institutions Evaluation of research Evaluation of doctoral schools Evaluation of programmes International evaluation and accreditation

signed by their chairman." (Article 8, paragraph 5); , the composition of which is specified below. The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial reviewing by the committee.


Anne-Sophie Rigaud

Anne-Marie Ergis

Olivier Hanon

Grading

Once the visits for the 2012-2013 evaluation campaign had been completed, the chairpersons of the expert committees, who met per disciplinary group, proceeded to attribute a score to the research units in their group (and, when necessary, for these units' in-house teams). This score (A+, A, B, C) concerned each of the six criteria defined by the AERES.

NN (not-scored) attached to a criteria indicate that this one was not applicable to the particular case of this research unit or this team. Criterion 1 -C1: Scientific outputs and quality; Criterion 2 -C2: Academic reputation and appeal; Criterion 3 -C3: Interactions with the social, economic and cultural environment; Criterion 4 -C4: Organisation and life of the institution (or of the team); Criterion 5 -C5: Involvement in training through research; Criterion 6 -C6: Strategy and five-year plan.

With respect to this score, the research unit concerned by this report received the following grades:

 Grading table of the unit: Alzheimer's disease: risk factors, treatment and support for patients and their families

C1

C2 C3 C4

 Introduction History and geographical location of the unit:

Unit EA 4468 is located at Broca Hospital, APHP, Paris. It was founded recently in 2010 and involved initially 2 groups that are now being joined by a third one, each of them being identified by the research theme they address.

Management team:

The unit is managed by PIs who conduct their respective research as listed below in the Theme-by-Theme analysis. The global aims address brain ageing and associated diseases, mainly Alzheimer's disease and the probable links with chronic cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension. Innovative methods for earlier diagnosis, prevention and assistance to affected patients are developed.

AERES nomenclature:

SVE1-LS4

Unit workforce: The unit EA 4468 is a clinical research entity that put together clinicians and researchers addressing overall topics related to ageing of the brain and the accompanying diseases especially as regards cognitive dysfunctions. The unit participates in a significant way to the universal endeavour to better understand, cope with and treat the affected patients and families, a global social and medical challenge in developed countries. The unit is strategically located in a renown geriatric hospital in Paris, Broca Hospital, and benefits from adequate premises and clinical facilities. The unit manages / has access to large cohorts of patients suffering from cardiovascular or cognitive disorders. The unit addresses major issues such as (i) the pathophysiological links between chronic cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD), (ii) the search for new (blood) biomarkers of AD, (iii) the search for new cognitive biomarkers of normal and pathological brain ageing, (iv) the development of innovative methods to assess and assist elderly subjects thanks to "gerontechnologies" that use cutting-edge computer-based artifical assistance and robotics.

Weaknesses and threats:

The unit is composed of heterogeneous sub-groups with different methods and aims. PIs should consider the potential risks of this heterogeneity and the lack of interactions / diverging goals it may generate.

A reinforcement of the scientific / engineer staff should be considered to allow PIs to master better the methodological issues such as complex statistical analyses of large multi-dimensional cohorts or the development of innovative devices for the "gerontechnologies" aspects of the unit overall proposal.

One may wonder about the impact of brain imaging on some aspects of the overall unit proposal and especially so for Theme 1. The unit PIs might want to address the issue of the advantage to have an on-site MRI facility instead of relying only on remote ones such as those in Sainte-Anne Hospital. This issue has been raised when the Committee interviewed the Representatives of APHP and of Paris-Descartes.

Recommendations:

The unit EA 4468 overall proposal is very interesting and by many aspects highly innovative. The unit is a new entity founded 3 years ago; it involved initially 2 research groups, composed of MDs (Cardiology, Psychiatry, Geriatrics) that are being joined by a third group composed of PhDs (Psychologists). The main concern relates to the potential risk of heterogeneity and to an insufficiently coherent vision for this recently formed research entity. The PIs should consider very seriously how to promote the career of younger researchers talented enough to take a leadership position in the future.

 Detailed assessments

Assessment of scientific quality and outputs:

The unit, especially Theme 1, has participated in some excellent internationally recognized works, published in top ranking scientific journals, although mainly as an associated centre. Theme 2 and Theme 3 work has been published in well-known peer reviewed journals, but with a lower impact factor, and overall restricted to either French or European journals. The research carried out has an excellent methodological and ethical quality. There is no a global coordination across these 3 Themes in terms of common research lines of work or shared assumptions or hypotheses, as far as can be deduced from published papers.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal:

The unit has a good reputation, and has attracted a good number of well qualified personnel, mainly from France. The unit members have coordinated international and, more frequently, national research groups or networks. They are well recognized at a French or European Level, but not on alarger scale, and should reinforce their participation in scientific boards, commitees and societies. They have participated in a good number of wellknown and demanding scientific meetings. Overall, these comments apply more to the geriatric field Theme 1, than to the neuropsychological or psychogeriatric ones Themes 2 and 3.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment:

This unit has a highly meritable interaction with its social and economic milieu. It has a real concern for the problems and interrogations of French and European society concerning aspects as the aging of the population, preventive public health issues, and caregivers wellbeing. Moreover, it has an impressive innovative interest and a leader position at a national level in translational research on assistive technology for the demented and/or functionally impaired elderly subjects.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life:

The unit seems well organised including with a long established expertise in clinical research procedures and the know-how related to elderly patients management for clinical reseach purposes; the management of large cohorts in this domain is also a remarkable achievement. However, the various teams in the unit address different topics and an important issue is the global management of the laboratory to maintain cohesion towards some well defined aims and a clear strategy.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research:

In spite of the very recent arrival of members of Theme 2 including Master students, PhDs, and Post-Docs, it seems from the interview of students that the integration of trainees in the scientific activities of the unit is satisfactory at every level. The offer of courses and seminar is adequate.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy:

Theme programs are innovative, well determined, and seem to have reasonable feasibility in terms of resources, depending on the each specific proposal. Theme 2 presents very interesting perspectives but should focus better on specific proposals, the application of which will probably require to get further funding. However, as a whole, the unit might generate concerns about its heterogeneity and relative lack of coordination between the 3 Themes. Although unit members seem to cooperate well or ready to do so, there is not a real integration of research. The common grounds are the patient needs, but not a theoretical framework or approach. As a consequence, the overall impression is that there are three different plans, and no common strategy. Assessment of scientific quality and outputs of the theme:

The participants in this research theme have a satisfactory scientific productivity, as attested by 80 articles published from 2007 to 2012 in international journals with peer-review, sometimes with high visibility especially in the last years ( e.g. Nat Genetics, Mol Psychiatry, Lancet) or with a leading author position (2 nd author in Hypertension 2012).

The research proposal is aimed at evaluating the potentially causal relationship among biological, genetic, vascular factors and cognitive impairment and dementia. Early identification of diagnostic and causal factors is considered one of the main goal in research for the potential opportunities to treat patients before the occurrence of irreversible, severe changes. Overall, the project aims to evaluate the relationship between vascular and cognitive damage. Data about this association are presently inconsistent. This sort of epidemiological study is essential to solve the present problem, and would be expected to realize a significant advance in the field. The coordinator appears to have good command of respective clinical and technical methods, and the research unit seems to be well experienced in the respective sub-field comprising the whole project. An addition of expert epidemiologist with excellent command of statistics would further strengthen the analysis and integration of the overall results.

Assessment of the academic reputation and appeal of the theme:

The coordinator is the president of the French Geriatric Society. Members of the unit are involved on a regular basis in Scientific Committees and Boards for the organization of national and international Congresses and for updating guidelines.

Assessment of the interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment of the theme:

Members in this research theme are actively involved in national and Europen collaborative projects. Senior members are engaged in ministerial and television programs for the dissemination of information related to opportunities offered to patients and caregivers.

Assessment of the organisation and life of the theme:

This is a major point of strenght. The team has the unique opportunity to share and integrate its experience with that of the other participants in the research unit. The achievement of this goal appears to be well structured through regular meetings among the team leaders and weekly meetings of all the members for the verification and coordination of scientific activities.

Assessment of the involvement in training through research of the theme:

Team members actively participate in training programs involving Degree Courses, Specialized schools, PhD and Graduate Schools.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy:

Research activities seem to have been well planned through the development of partnerships at the international level and the integration of the team in a research unit capable of addressing various issues related to aging and dementia.

Conclusion:

The research activity appears very relevant and well designed to produce new knowledge on the important issue of the relationship between laboratory/clinical risk factors and neurodegenerative disorders.

Strengths and opportunities:

A major point of strenght for this theme is the integration of research and clinical activities. This opportunity as well as being related to the ability to coordinate activities with those of other research groups belonging to the unit, is greatly facilitated by the location within a Hospital that strongly increases the possibility to recruit patients for the different investigations and facilitates the access to high-level diagnostic tools.

In terms of scientific content, better knowledge of dementia-related biological markers and clinical risk factors related to vascular diseases markers might greatly improve the efficacy of our preventive and curative interventions in the field of dementias. The coordinator has participated in numerous studies published in the best journals in neurology, geriatric and internal medicine.

Weaknesses and threats:

The complexity of research projects and the necessity to integrate activities with the other components of the unit, although a point of strength, is undoubtedly a demanding task that requires considerable economic effort and work, which could be undermined if the availability of research funds will suffer a setback. In addition, considering the high quantity of literature on the subject, it should be better specified how new results could impact common clinical practice. Further, a better definition of the statistical approach for the integration of the overall results would further strengthen the positive judgment. The overall judgment is positive both for research aspects and those regarding teaching. This is a wellstructured research approach focusing on the pathogenesis of neurocognitive decline. The project is original for the possibility of obtaining results that arise from the integration of clinical, instrumental and laboratory information and addresses the important issue of neurocognitive decline through an interesting approach. Researchers have the experience and the expertise to reach the expected goals.

Theme 2:

Neuropsychological of normal and pathological aging Manager's name: Assessment of scientific quality and outputs of the theme:

Overall 38 papers were listed from 2007 to 2012 that appeared in journals specific to the domain of cognitive neurosciences or neuropsychology, sometimes in journals of higher visibility (e.g. Neurobiology of Ageing 2012). Participants to Theme 2 were leading authors in these publications (mostly as last authors). Some of these publications are not in direct relation to the topics addressed in the present unit proposal.

Assessment of the academic reputation and appeal of the theme:

Researchers participating to Theme 2 are active and renown in their field of specialty with talks given at international conferences. The number of students either PhD or Post-docs in relatively small but one may note the regular involvement of students as author or co-author in the publications of the research group.

Assessment of the interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment of the theme:

Researchers are invited to / participate in public events related to fostering knowledge to the general public concerning cognitive functions and dysfunctions, especially in relation to ageing.

Assessment of the organisation and life of the theme:

This item is difficult to address because the merging of the group of researchers involved in Theme 2 with the rest of the unit is only very recent so that one can hardly assess the actual amount of collaborations and the functional organization across the 3 theme groups. It is clear that the expertise of this new group in cognitive evaluation represents an important input to the unit overall as this expertise could be exploited to further developments of projects in the other two groups/themes. This new theme is a point of strength for the future of the unit owing to its expertise and its "transversal" function, cognitive issues being likely to be used to many purposes.

Assessment of the involvement in training through research of the theme:

The Professors and Assistant Professors are obviously involved in many teaching programs in Psychology at Paris Descartes ( Boulogne site). Students of this group participate in regular meetings of the group / laboratory in which data presentations / discussions are organized, although one may note the relative heterogeneity within this yet small group, some works being related to developmental topics (development of reading strategies for instance) and the others to ageing-related issues. Reading the document provided via AERES was not sufficient to retrieve information about the projects in which Post-Docs are involved.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy of the theme:

Theme 2 provides the unit with a new potential of research which is likely to reinforce the existing projects and to give a new axis of cohesion of the unit. Theme 2 proposal is centered on the influence of the disorders of executive and attention functions in the early phase of ageing-related cognitive diseases. New concepts and innovative paradigms (e.g. prospective memory) have been put forward and will be applied to patient population on a broader scale thanks to closer collaborations that will be either reinforced or set up between the new researchers and the clinical teams at Broca Hospital. Researchers from Theme 2 got substantial funding to pursue their resaerch projects in this new framework. They benefit from the support brought out by the specific "Axe Thematique Prioritaire" from Paris-Descartes. Diverse fundings also exist to a relatively modest extent to support specific projects.

Conclusion:

• Strengths and opportunities: Theme 2 is an important "plus" to the overall unit EA 4468. It brings out new researchers, new ideas and new methods that could be directly exploited for the development of the projects specific to Theme 1 and 3. Reciprocally, the involvement of Theme 2 in Broca Hospital is a major advantage for the former as researchers will have access to a number of patients via the expertise of higly specialized MDs, long trained to the specific topics of clinical research and cognitive testing in the elderly. The potential of synergy is especially compelling with Theme 3 as very interesting perspectives can be forseen so that to apply attention-related concepts and paradigms to nondrug intervention programs in "at-risk" ageing subjects; in addition, the input of high-tech innovative media could boost dramatically the input of Theme 2 in the domain of executive functions.

• Weaknesses and threats:

A concern is the yet inprecise way the research projects generated / impulsed by Theme 2 will be implemented in Broca Hospital in practical terms; the PIs of Theme 2 will still have their basic setting in Boulogne (where they teach) and they will have to connect very frequently to Broca Hospital to supervise their experiments and on-going projects.

The absence of anteriority in terms of scientific collaborations between Theme 2 researchers and the other Themes is a potential risk that the whole group of PIs should consider and monitor in the next steps of the overall project. This concern may be more important as regards the relationships of Theme 2 with Theme 1 than those with Theme 3.

• Recommendations:

A better explicitation of the implementation of Theme 2-specific research proposals in the framework of unit EA 4468 is recommended. Such a precise planning is likely to facilitate greatly the input of Theme 2 to the rest of the unit. The unit should be encouraged to an active search for further funding for their projects as the existing ones seem relatively limited and might prove insufficient to implement research programs on a broader scale. Assessment of scientific quality and outputs of the theme:

Overall 60 papers were listed from 2007 to 2012. Participants to Theme 3 were mostly co-authors of collaborative papers in well-known peer-reviewed journals sometimes with high visibility; however, the specific aspects of Theme 3 work has been published in journals with much lower impact factor (e.g. "Health Informatics Journal ») or in French. The research carried out is highly specific and in close connection with scientific and industrial partners that are infrequently associated with clinical practice such as computer engineers specialized in the new technologies of information and communication and robotics. Although a number of publications were produced, these publications may not be visible enough, owing to the highly specialized topics they addressed. The overall topic is the use and development of new technical means to assess and to improve care of elderly people handicaps in daily life activities. It implies experimental settings (e.g. experimental apartment where people are invited to spend some hours and perform daily life typical activities) or robotic equipment that can alleviate specific cognitive or physical age-related inabilities. The development and piloting of such new high-tech tools involve trialand-error strategies in very small groups of subjects who are confronted with such new devices.

Assessment of the academic reputation and appeal of the theme:

Members of the theme have a good reputation, and have attracted a good number of well qualified personnel, mainly from France. They have coordinated international and, more frequently, national research groups or networks. They are well recognized at an French or European Level.

Assessment of the interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment of the theme:

This theme gives rise to a highly meritable interaction with the relevant social and economic milieu. Clinicians and researchers involved in the theme develop an impressive innovative interest and a leader position at a national level in translational research on assistive industrial technology for the demented and/or functionally impaired elderly subjects. Given the pilot character of this work, its outcome in terms of high quality research output remains uncertain.

Assessment of the organisation and life of the theme:

Few members who are working together on this theme seem to perform adequately, and no perceivable major dysfunction or conflict was identified.

Assessment of the involvement in training through research of the theme:

Trainees seem well integrated in the scientific activities at every level. Students and PhDs are guided and monitored conveniently.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy of the theme:

Theme 3 scientific strategy is clearly a risky one owing to the pilot characteristics of this research and the needs of (i) replication and validation of such innovative high-tech methods for assessing and remediating handicaps of the elderly and (ii) if successful in validation, transfer to the industrial stage.

The Committee strongly recommends the unit to identify and to promote second-generation team members talented enough to take a leadership position in the near future.

Conclusion:

The research approach of Theme 3 is very innovative and the links established between clinicians of the unit and researchers/engineers and industrial partners developing new computerized methods applied for remediation and care of elderly subjects is quasi unique. This is also an atypical research activity whose formal validation and assessment of practical impact in real life remains highly uncertain.

• Strengths and opportunities:

The participants in Theme 3 activities have the unique opportunity to experiment completely new methods for assessing age-related handicaps and remediating them, thanks to long-established relationships and collaborations with groups developing high-tech innovative methods, including via industrial or academic research grants at the National of European level.

• Weaknesses and threats:

A clear drawback of the current activities in the absence of in-house expertise of the (complex) technical aspects of the R&D issues raised by the development of such new high-tech methods and tools. As a consequence, this activity might evolve to that of a purely applicative site in which high-tech innovations from outside are tested without real "reverse translational flux", i.e. the clinicians conveying to the engineers their original observations from patients' actual handicaps and needs. Innovative technology research should therefore be more integrated onsite, although this might be a challenge in hospital structures and premises.

• Recommendations:

The overall judgment is positive mainly owing to the highly innovative and promising perspectives this work brings out. Its potential could be tremedously increased with the establishement of much closer and bi-directional translation between experts in new technologies and robotics on the one hand and clinicians on the other.

Assessment of the unit

Weaknesses and threats:

"The unit is composed of heterogeneous sub-groups with different methods and aims. PIs should consider the potential risks of this heterogeneity and the lack of interactions / diverging goals it may generate": Although we acknowledge the fact that we are different sub-groups with different methods and aims, we would like to outline that we are all focused on one unique aim: diagnosis and care of cognitive impairment in older adults, which can hardly be separated. Progressively we have been incorporating tools and knowledge from the three subgroups of the unit under an integrative care model of cognitive impairment; for instance, over the last period clinicians have played an increasingly important role in the definition and follow up of research protocols (e.g., monthly transversal research staff). Additionally, and following your suggestions, we plan to increase interactions and collaboration between teams by preparing joined submission to research calls in the future.

"A reinforcement of the scientific / engineer staff should be considered to allow PIs to master better the methodological issues such as complex statistical analyses of large multi-dimensional cohorts or the development of innovative devices for the "gerontechnologies" aspects of the unit overall proposal": First we would like to emphasize the presence in the unit of four young researchers who have an expertise either in statistics or in methodology including 1) Jean-Sebastien Vidal and Matthieu Plichard, experts in complex statistical analyses of large multi-dimensional cohorts methodology, 2) Hélène Kerhervé and Maribel Pino experts in user-research methodologies for the assessment of innovative devices in the field of gerontechnology. In addition, we would like to outline the fact that we have strong links and collaborations with Cochin Unité de Recherche Clinique (URC headed by Pr JM Treluyer) which encompasses a department dedicated to methodology and statistics. We regularly leverage their skills in methodology/statistics to improve our work. However, we agree that broadening the competency of the research unit in the aforementioned areas could lead to higher impact research.

Detailed assessments

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy:

"Although unit members seem to cooperate well or ready to do so, there is not a real integration of research. The common grounds are the patient needs, but not a theoretical framework or approach. As a 2 consequence, the overall impression is that there are three different plans, and no common strategy". We acknowledge your view on this issue. Indeed, during the last period we did not have enough time to build up a common theoretical framework or approach since team 2 joined the unit one year ago. However we currently work on this issue and efforts are being made in the three sub-groups for building a more collaborative and integrative research framework.

4 Theme-by-theme analysis Theme 1: Vascular risk factors and biological markers of Alzheimer's disease "An addition of expert epidemiologist with excellent command of statistics would further strengthen the analysis and integration of the overall results". As written above, we would like to insist on the presence of Jean-Sebastien Vidal and Matthieu Plichard who already have an expertise in complex statistical analyses of large multidimensional cohorts methodology. Of course, we would be glad to welcome other outstanding epidemiologist if possible.

Theme 2: Neuropsychological of normal and pathological aging

We would like to emphasize the fact that Team2 members arrived in the unit EA 4468 one year ago. Thus it is hardly possible for them to join ongoing projects. But our objectives are of course to develop collaborations between colleagues from themes 1, 2 and 3, and we meet regularly on that purpose. We are currently applying jointly to a call for proposals, and we'll do for others. Concerning the comment on studies not related to aging, colleagues not mainly specialized in aging joined team 2 last year, and some studies proposed in the project are in continuation with their developmental research done in the past. It is important to remind that our focus is on applied userresearch and how to integrate assistive technology to the existing models of care not on the engineering aspects of technology development. However, we consider that this is a valuable suggestion and consequently for the coming years, our team plans to enlarge our competencies in this field, by recruiting engineers with an expertise in robotics and informatics.

4

   Theme-by-theme analysis Theme 1: Vascular risk factors and biological markers of Alzheimer's disease Manager's name: M. Olivier HANON

  Recommendations:

Theme 3 :

 3 Psychosocial interventions and assistive technology"A clear drawback of the current activities in the absence of in-house expertise of the (complex) technical aspects of the R&D issues raised by the development of such new high-tech methods and tools". Although we do not have a dedicated R&D expert in the unit, we have developed strong partnerships with several experts in the field of innovation and healthcare technology who provide us with support on technical/technological issues, including the National Expert Centers (Centre d'Expertise Nationaux-CEN), especially the CEN STIMCO (Cognitive Stimulation) launched by Caisse Nationale de Solidarité et de l'Autonomie, the National Reference Center for home health and autonomy (Centre National de Référence), competitiveness clusters (pole de compétitivité), innovation centers (Centre d'Innovation d'Ile de France), the Soliage group, who brings together different stakeholders in the gerontechnology field, and other similar institutions.

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2012 Number as at 01/01/2014

			2014-2018
			Number of
			project producers
	N1: Permanent professors and similar positions	6	6
	N2: Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions
	N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties)	17	(11)
	N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.)	2	2
	N5: Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.)	10	10
	N6: Other contractual staff (without research duties)	2	-
	TOTAL N1 to N6	37	29
	Percentage of producers	100%*
	*all researchers of the unit (all categories together) are producers

Unit workforce Number as at 30/06/2012 Number as at 01/01/2014

	2
	Doctoral students	5
	Theses defended	2
	Postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit*
	Number of Research Supervisor Qualifications (HDR) taken	-

 Assessment of the unit Strengths and opportunities:

Workforce Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents As at 30/06/2012

			As at 01/01/2014
	FTE for permanent professors	1	1
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers

FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.) 1 1 FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.) FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit 2 FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students FTE for other contractual staff without research duties FTE for doctoral students 2 TOTAL 6 2 Detailed assessments

Theme 3 :

 3 Psychosocial interventions and assistive technologyManager's name:

	Ms Anne Sophie RIGAUD
	Workforce
	Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents	As at 30/06/2012	As at 01/01/2014
	FTE for permanent professors	1	1
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers
	FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.)	3	3
	FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.)
	FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	3
	FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students
	FTE for other contractual staff without research duties	10	10
	FTE for doctoral students	6
	TOTAL	23	14
	
	Detailed assessments

6 

 6 Statistics by field: SVE on 10/06/2013

	Grades

Critères C1 Qualité scientifique et production C2 Rayonnement et attractivité académiques C3 Relations avec l'environnement social, économique et culturel C4 Organisation et vie de l'entité C5 Implication dans la formation par la recherche C6 Stratégie et projet à cinq ans

	A+	67	62	52	73	65	60
	A	57	67	71	45	65	63
	B	12	7	4	7	6	14
	C	0	0	0	3	0	1
	Non Noté	3	3	12	11	3	1
	Percentages
	Critères 1. Introduction C1 Qualité scientifique et production No comment	C2 Rayonnement et attractivité académiques	C3 Relations avec l'environnement social, économique et culturel	C4 Organisation et vie de l'entité	C5 Implication dans la formation par la recherche	C6 Stratégie et projet à cinq ans
	A+	48%	45%	37%	53%	47%	43%
	A	41%	48%	51%	32%	47%	45%
	B	9%	5%	3%	5%	4%	10%
	C	0%	0%	0%	2%	0%	1%
	Non Noté	2%	2%	9%	8%	2%	1%
	Histogram

Qualified research supervisors (with an HDR) or similar positions

 Supervising bodies' general comments

Université Paris Descartes, Vice--présidence du conseil scientifique, 12 rue de l'école de médecine, 75170 PARIS cedex 06

Téléphone: 01 76 53 17 45; Courriel: stefano.marullo@parisdescartes.fr

We thank the members of the visiting committee and observers of the AERES for considering our answers.

Anne-Sophie Rigaud

May 2013, 17 th


President Michel Cosnard

Tiziano Camporesi

This report is the sole result of the unit's evaluation by the expert committee, the composition of which is specified below. The assessments contained herein are the expression of an independent and collegial reviewing by the committee.

UNIT PRESENTATION

MANAGEMENT TEAM

The LPNHE is directed by Mr Gregorio BERNARDI.

HCERES NOMENCLATURE ST2 Physics

ST2_1 Nuclear Physics and particles ST3 Earth and space sciences ST3_3 Astronomy, space

SCIENTIFIC DOMAIN

The research activities of LPNHE are mainly experimental and are grouped in four thematic teams aiming at answering the following questions and their extensions:

• What is the nature of the fundamental masses and interactions?

• What is the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry and the origin of flavor?

• What is the nature/origin of high energy cosmic particles and of dark matter?

• What is the nature and the evolution of dark energy?

UNIT WORKFORCE

GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF THE UNIT

The Committee unanimously has an excellent impression of the unit, it is a world class laboratory. The scientific activities around the themes of particle physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology allow a strong contribution within the theme and effective multi-disciplinary synergy.

The strong technological component is one of the strength of the unit. This allows the teams to have a strong impact in the international collaborations where the research effort is strongly correlated to the technical achievements and deliverables.

The success of the unit is linked to the ability to take important technical responsibilities.

Thanks to its diverse scientific engagement, the unit has established a reputation of excellence at the national and international level within important research programs.

The main axis that the committee has identified as key to the contributions of the unit are: the Collider Physics with the contributions to D0, ATLAS (past, present and future), BaBar and now LHCb and the R&D for the possible future Linear Collider, the cosmic ray physics with Auger, HESS, CTA, the starting collaborations in dark matter searches, DAMIC, DarkSide and Xenon, and cosmology continuing the seminal work of SNLS with Subaru/HST and leading contributions in LSST and the new role being played in DESI/eBOSS contributing to the understanding of the dynamics of the universe.

The unit technological developments and skills in the domain of analog and digital electronics, the experience accumulated in the domain of photodetectors, silicon sensors and CCD are a major asset and allow the researchers of the unit to participate in a prominent way in the international collaborations.

The unit success relies on its personnel where ~35% is formed by temporary personnel (Doctoral students, post-docs and limited duration contracts): the evolution of funding for these resources is unclear and often based on competitive national calls (e.g. LABEX and ANR). The large spectrum of long term programs might be affected by fluctuations in availability of human resources.

The goal of this research is to go beyond the « knowledge frontier » but also to develop new technologies which can be applied elsewhere, while constructing detectors for our research. The scientific project of the LPNHE for the years to come is to progress in these four main directions.

The evaluation reports of Hceres are available online: www.hceres.com

Evaluation of clusters of higher education and research institutions Evaluation of higher education and research institutions Evaluation of research Evaluation of doctoral schools Evaluation of programmes International evaluation and accreditation

INTRODUCTION

  HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF THE UNITThe LPNHE is a mixed research unit (UMR) of Sorbonne Université (ex: Pierre et Marie Curie, UPMC), Paris-Diderot (UPD) and CNRS. Inside CNRS, it is part of the Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3).LPNHE is located on the Pierre et Marie Curie campus of SU, tower 22-12, 1 st floor, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris 75005.

Representatives of supervising institutions and bodies:

	Unit name:	Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et Hautes Énergies
	Unit acronym:	LPNHE
	Requested label:	UMR
	Application type:	Renewal
	Current number:	UMR 7585
	Head of the unit (2017-2018):	Mr Gregorio BERNARDI
	Project leader (2019-2023):	Mr Gregorio BERNARDI
	Number of teams or themes: 4
	COMMITTEE MEMBERS
	Chair:	Mr Tiziano CAMPORESI, CERN, Suisse
	Experts:	Mr Alain BLANCHARD, CNRS
		Mr Olivier BOURRION, CNRS (supporting personnel)
		Ms Anne EALET, CNRS (representative of CoNRS)
		Mr Andrii NERONOV, université de Genève, Suisse
		Mr Philippe ROSNET, université Clermont Auvergne (representative of CNU)
		Mr Georges VASSEUR, CEA Saclay
	HCERES scientific officer:
		Mr Yannis KARYOTAKIS
		Ms Ursula BASSLER, CNRS
		Mr Matteo CACCIARI, université Paris Diderot
		Mr Bertrand MEYER, Sorbonne Université

Unit workforce Number 30/06/2017 Number 01/01/2019 Permanent staff

	Full professors and similar positions	5	6
	Assistant professors and similar positions	18	17
	Full time research directors (Directeurs de recherche) and similar positions	12	11
	Full time research associates (Chargés de recherche) and similar positions	15	17
	Other scientists ("Conservateurs, cadres scientifiques des EPIC, fondations, industries, etc.")	0	0
	High school teachers	0	0
	Supporting personnel (ITAs, BIATSSs and others, notably of EPICs)	43	42
	TOTAL permanent staff	93	93
	Non-permanent staff
	Non-permanent professors and associate professors, including emeritus	6
	Non-permanent full time scientists, including emeritus, post-docs	13
	Non-permanent supporting personnel	6
	PhD Students	21
	TOTAL non-permanent staff	46
	TOTAL unit	139


A+ A+

PAIN; M Reynald

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 A+ A+ A A+

Grading

Once the visits for the 2012-2013 evaluation campaign had been completed, the chairpersons of the expert committees, who met per disciplinary group, proceeded to attribute a score to the research units in their group (and, when necessary, for these units' in-house teams). This score (A+, A, B, C) concerned each of the six criteria defined by the AERES. NN (not-scored) attached to a criteria indicate that this one was not applicable to the particular case of this research unit or this team.

Criterion 1 -C1 : Scientific outputs and quality ; Criterion 2 -C2 : Academic reputation and appeal ; Criterion 3 -C3 : Interactions with the social, economic and cultural environment ; Criterion 4 -C4 : Organisation and life of the institution (or of the team) ; Criterion 5 -C5 : Involvement in training through research ; Criterion 6 -C6 : Strategy and five-year plan.

 Assessment of the unit Strengths and opportunities

The scientific program is of the highest level, diverse but well-focused within each theme and balanced among them, covering all the main issues of experimental particle and astroparticle physics and much of those of observational cosmology.

All research takes place at large international facilities. This goes hand-in-hand with numerous scientific partnerships, which helps in recruiting an internationally diversified body of postdocs and PhD students.

There is a strong base of highly qualified permanent researcher and technical support staff.

The new laboratory premises, with large and well-equipped clean rooms and specialized technical rooms, and rooms for experimental tests, puts this lab in a very good position for experiments of the next several years.

The rich, diversified, forward-looking research program should allow this lab to remain at the forefront of research on all of its themes.

Weaknesses and threats

On the permanent personnel side, the age distribution of the University faculty may create difficulties in hiring new people, or promoting the junior researchers.

On the temporary personnel side, there has recently been a decrease in the number of temporary positions from the supervising Institutions (University and CNRS) as well as increase difficulties in funding for hiring PhD students. Due to the latter, the lab when recruiting cannot take full advantage of its high international visibility.

The theoretical and experimental activities are not strongly in contact with each other. A higher level of integration would be beneficial particularly to the former, considering that the theoretical staff consists of very few people.

The ambitious, large-scale future research programs necessarily imply uncertainties in what will be built or funded.

Recommendations

The research efforts on high-energy physics experiments that are in their final phase (CDF, D0, BaBar) should be brought to an end in an orderly but expeditious manner in order to maximize the output on experiments that are likely to produce important, novel results.

Efforts on the current very successful experiments should be continued along the current lines in order to maintain the high impact and the visibility so far achieved.

The R&D for future experiments and/or upgrades (ATLAS, ILD, T2K, LHCb, CTA, LSST …) should be pursued most vigorously, but keeping an eye on the emerging trends, positive or negative as they may be, for they may suggest changes in directions.

As already perceived by the involved resserchers, the activities in cosmology should acquire more diversification, while ensuring, if possible, a continuing inflow of data to be analyzed.

Generally, in order to take advantage of the very attractive research and training opportunities offered by LPNHE it would be highly desirable that the supervising and funding organizations counteract the negative trend in supporting student and postdoc grants.

 Detailed assessments Assessment of scientific quality and outputs

The recent discoveries in all the experimental activities pursued by the Units's researchers represent crucial breakthroughs in each field. Specifically, the discovery of the Higgs-like boson, of a new type of neutrino oscillations, the break in cosmic ray spectra at the highest energies and the accelerating Universe expansion have had enormous impact.

The discoveries in which the LPNHE has been directly involved, often in a crucial manner, determine the directions of future research worldwide. This is a statement that can be made only rarely.

All these results have been communicated at international conferences, often by LPNHE personnel. They have been published in the most prestigious journals of the field. Altogether, in the last 5 years the Unit produced 1061 refereed publications.

Overall, the scientific excellence of the research output of this unit is outstanding.

More details are given under each research theme.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

The Unit's staff have important responsibilities in large international collaborations (D0 spokesperson, IN2P3 coordinators in Auger and LSST, the HESS camera, etc) and obtained several prizes (CNRS bronze and silver medals). These facts attest to the high quality of the staff.

Postdocs and PhD students are recruited internationally. About half of the students, from 2007 to 2012, are not French.

The collaborations themselves attained worldwide recognition such as the Gruber prize to the Supernova Cosmology Project and the Rossi prize to HESS.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 74 participations in the organizing committees of international conferences or workshops, including the primary organizer of the Moriond conference series.

Over the same period, 217 talks have been given by the Unit's personnel at international conferences.

These numbers clearly indicate an excellent research unit, of highest international reputation.

Again, more detailed data about these issues are given in the sections on individual research themes.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

While a basic research lab as this one cannot be expected to intensely interact with commercial entities, the cultural fallout from the recent fundamental discoveries is significant and has an important role enhancing and maintaining the general public's interest in science. The Unit's staff has numerous collaborations with the news media, it hosts and maintains a public web site (www.laradioactivité.com), it organizes the conference cycle "Physique et Interactions Fondamentales" and the yearly "Fête de la Science" with other physics labs of the Jussieu campus. In addition, there are frequent interventions in high schools, as well as master classes.

Several books have been published.

The high-level electronics engineering work done at LPNHE might lead to applications in other fields. Circuitry based on associative memories, developed for upgrades of LHC tracking triggers, may find application in genomics research.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life

The laboratory's activities are organized by means of the statutorily required representative bodies but also by ad-hoc committees. The Scientific Council, comprised of 4 elected and 5 appointed members, including two foreign ones, meets about twice a year.

The management work is effectively divided between the Director and the Adjunct and the Technical Directors. The organigram is well-structured and transparent, with clearly defined responsibilities at various levels in the scientific and technical sectors.

The regularly held meetings comprise two weekly meetings: one involving the top management only, the other meant for everyone. The latter is well attended. Two monthly meetings are held, one with the persons holding administrative and technical responsibilities, the other with the scientific leaders. Technical staff is assigned to projects twice a year. This structure is clearly effective in maintaining the lab's scientific priorities and an overall balance among the different sectors.

In addition, a three-day retreat of the whole lab in a remote site is held at two year intervals, to keep everyone informed in detail about the activities of the lab.

Positive information was gathered from a meeting with the administrative and technical staff. The only reservations expressed had to do with the time it takes to treat increasingly diversified budgets, and to receive the minutes of the meetings.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

One-half of the permanent staff of this Unit is teaching as well as doing research -a fact that naturally leads to important involvement in training of junior personnel through research.

A particularly important facet of these activities is the large number of stages -about 50/year on average.

The great majority of PhD students continue in research, with a few finding positions in industry.

The Committee had a very positive impression about the intellectual level of interactions among junior and senior personnel, about the training provided to postdocs and students, and about the seminar program, which informs everyone about progress in the field in a timely manner.

The PhD students belongs mainly to 'Ecole Doctorales » ED 517 "Particules Noyaux Cosmologie" (UPMC, UPD, UP11, CEA) and ED 389 "La physique de la particule au solide" (UPMC), but also to ED 127 "Astronomy et Astrophysics d'ile de France (UPMC, UPD, UP11) and ED 107 "Physique de la région parisienne" (ENS, UPMC, UPD, UP11) 10 Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy

The excellence of the research program of LPNHE will naturally be maintained by continuing the current activities in the highly successful projects it is engaged in: ATLAS, T2K, LHCb, Auger, HESS, and LSST. All of these activities include significant or very major upgrades programs, which will further enhance their discovery potential and lead to more accurate and powerful measurements of the phenomena already partially explored. In the detailed assessments, each of these programs is examined in some detail.

Overall, the 5-year research plan should maintain the currently achieved level of excellence in each of the four broad themes because in each of them at least one project will be realized, leading to significant or major instrumentation development activities and more data and new analyses and publications. Specifically, the ATLAS and LHCb upgrades, CTA and the LSST can be counted on despite other uncertainties in the international programs for future large research facilities.

Concerning instrumentation developments, while it is important that LPNHE maintain its present capabilities, the plan is robust even if not all future international projects will prosper, because there are (intended) synergies in the R&D work being carried out: for instance, in the MIF (Matter and Fundamental Interactions) sector, these activities have a common semiconductor detector development emphasis; while the activities in the other sectors share important strengths in electronic engineering developments and in photon detection.

The SWOT analysis is well-developed, and has helped in formulating both the general analysis contained in the overall assessment of the Unit and in the assessments of the theme-by-theme analysis.

11 4  Theme-by-theme analysis Assessment of scientific quality and outputs CDF/D0: From the year 2000 until the onset of the LHC in 2010 the CDF and D0 experiments at the Tevatron were the leading research instruments in the world at the high energy frontier of particle physics. The LPNHE had teams participating in both experiments and a strong one in D0 with significant instrumental commitments on the electromagnetic calorimeter. With the closure of the Tevatron in 2011 the activities are now exclusively on physics analysis. The physicists from the LPNHE participate in the two key studies at the Tevatron, the precise determination of the mass of the top quark -where the Tevatron is still in a leading position, with the LHC approaching the same level of precision only at the end of 2012, and the search for a Standard Model Higgs boson where the LHC has rapidly taken over the leadership during 2011. Nonetheless, in a final effort, combining results of D0 and CDF on the Higgs, circumstantial evidence has been found for a signal at ~125 GeV through a very sophisticated statistical analysis. The LHC now has a large competitive edge in hadron collider physics and the activities on D0 analysis should be brought to an orderly end within a few years, as the ongoing PhD theses are completed.

ATLAS: With CMS, ATLAS is the leading experiment in high energy particle physics and will remain so for the next ten years and probably much more. The LPNHE team is strong and extremely well placed both on the instrumental and analysis sides and it is important that it remains so. The LPNHE team had important instrumental commitments during the construction phase of ATLAS, specifically on the electromagnetic calorimeter which is the key and most successful component of ATLAS, and responsibilities in the calibration and monitoring of this device. In direct relation with this commitment the LPNHE team has developed expertise in the reconstruction of electrons and photons and in the study of the gamma-gamma background production, which put them in pole position in the search for the Higgs boson through its gamma-gamma decay mode. This shows the excellent positioning of this team. The study of this decay mode for precise mass determination and spin will be a topic of central importance for the 3 to 5 years to come.

The discovery by ATLAS and CMS of a particle which is very likely to be the Higgs boson is the most important advance in particle physics since the W and Z bosons were found thirty years ago. The ongoing studies of the top quark, its production and more precise mass determination through the two-leptons final state in ttbar production is another field of activity of the LPNHE group. This is a topic of high importance and visibility and will remain so for a number of years, the mass of the top in particular. ILC/ILD: involvement in the International Linear Collider project goes many years back and participation in the development of a tungsten-silicon electromagnetic digital calorimeter is a very good technical option, in line with the laboratory expertise with construction/operation of electromagnetic calorimeters (in D0 and ATLAS), and coherent with the desire to master silicon detector techniques at the LPNHE. In view of present uncertainties, even if the ILC does not materialize, the knowledge and techniques acquired will very likely be reusable elsewhere.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

The evidence for a Higgs-like particle at about 125 GeV was obtained under the leadership of physicists from the LPNHE, among them the spokesperson of D0 for years 2011-2014.

In ATLAS, it is the analysis of the decay mode H to gamma-gamma by the LPNHE team which was used as the official analysis for the world-wide presentation of the discovery for a Higgs-like boson on July 4th at CERN. This gives a measure of how the work of these teams is valued within these large collaborations which are chacterized by an extremely competitive environment.

Team members have been editors -on behalf of their collaborations -of about 10 papers per year, have given about 12 talks per year, and given several lectures at thematic physics schools.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

The discovery of a Higgs-like boson by experiments at CERN in summer 2012 was a world-wide scientific event and attracted much attention even from the general public. It was followed in France in particular with a number of presentations and articles in the media (TV, radios) and science popularisation journals, lectures at international and national level conferences and seminars, lectures in schools, with members of the LPNHE taking a very active part.

13

Assesment of the unit's organisation and life

In large collaborations like ATLAS there is quasi-continuous activity through working group presentations at the level of the experiment and weekly at the laboratory team level. There are also meetings with other French labs on the calorimeter calibration, operation and upgrade, and overall ATLAS /France yearly meetings.

It is worth pointing out that recent decisions about the laboratory's ATLAS upgrade commitments were not easy, but were taken based on a broad discussion within the group that converged on a strategy involving a focus on silicon tracking detectors. This decision makes optimal use of the technical strengths of the lab and shows that this community when faced by potentially divisive issues is capable of making good choices.

There is a satisfactory mix of senior scientists and young doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers within this group.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

The large fraction of permanent researchers also engaged in teaching allows the laboratory and this team to attract many doctoral students.

The quality of the team together with the laboratory and the subjects of research makes it very attractive to foreigners. In this team there are at present more than ten thesis students; this ensures a very sound and dynamic base for present studies. The postdocs and permanent researchers constitute a solid base for instrumental involvement in the upgrade of ATLAS, centered on the silicon tracker project.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy

Undoubtedly the LHC will dominate the particle physics scene for the next ten years, and more. Thus the involvement, on the one hand, in the needed tracker upgrade of ATLAS to face the still higher luminosities envisaged, and on the other hand the continuing effort on the determination of Higgs boson properties (mass, spin, branching ratios, production cross sections) to understand the exact nature of the particle seen in 2012, is an excellent mediumterm strategy and will ensure high visibilty of the team and laboratory.

The competent technical and physics personnel and the newly commissioned clean rooms provide the base for the work on development of more radiation-hard silicon sensors and electronics needed for the tracker upgrade.

The effort on the top physics should also be rewarding, especially with the determination of cross sections at 13-14 TeV in single-top and ttbar production in the coming 3 to 5 years and further work on reducing the uncertainties on the top mass.

This last activity will gradually become a metrology task, not necessarily interesting, in spite of its importance, to all present members of the team. In this respect it could be of interest for the laboratory and team to open new fields of investigation at the LHC, oriented more towards Beyond Standard Model physics; with the acquired competence in electron/photon reconstruction and in handling b-jets a promising field could be, for example, supersymmetry.

Conclusion

 Overall opinion of the theme: Excellent positioning in ATLAS, both on the present liquid argon calorimeter and on Higgs and top physics analyses topics assures longer term prospects with the LHC. The laboratory clearly perceives the need to maintain strong involvement in the upgrade of ATLAS to insure the relevance and visibility of team.

 Strengths and opportunities:

The team is taking advantage of its long term involvement in electromagnetic calorimetry (D0, ATLAS) to master aspects of electron and photon reconstruction and to apply it in key physics analyses (H to gamma-gamma for example). Both physics analysis topics the team is engaged with, Higgs and top properties, will remain key issues at the LHC for years to come.

Involvement in the (unavoidable) tracker upgrade of ATLAS, on silicon pixel/macropixel detectors is an excellent choice, will put the team in a strong position in ATLAS, while opening possibilities with closer contacts with industries too.

A possible weakness might be a lack of involvement of this team in "new physics" searches at the LHC. The presently available manpower may not allow to effectively open a new line of studies now, but if and when saturation with present themes occurs, competence with electrons, photons and b-jets should allow a reorientation of studies. For ILC/ILD activities, the threat is uncertainty with ILC approval, probably more pronounced now that the Higgs could be within the reach of an "LEP3"-type collider and that SUSY is receeding beyond ~400 GeV mass even for stops and sbottoms. Nonetheless the investment in the CALICE calorimeter would not be in vain, a high granularity digital calorimeter will probably/likely find applications in future experiments.

 Recommendations:

Bring to successful end without much delay analysis activities on CDF and D0 data so as to partipate in full strength on ATLAS.

LHC and ATLAS have a clear future for next ~10 years, the ATLAS tracker upgrade is well justified in view of the expected rise in luminosity of the machine, thus involvement on the silicon tracker is of strategic importance for the LPNHE team and should be supported with adequate human, technical and financial resources in the coming years.

The physics analysis topics chosen, Higgs and top studies, are central issues for particle physics in the coming years, but it is advisable to devote new personnel to searchs for Beyond-Standard-Model physics. LPNHE conducts experimental research on Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry in the lepton and quark sectors. In both sectors, the quality of the scientific production is outstanding.

The first measurement of the neutrino mixing angle theta13, given by the T2K experiment, was made with a very significant and essential contribution from the LPNHE group. For this measurement a necessary ingredient is the evaluation of the expected number of neutrino events in the absence of oscillations and of the shapes of certain kinematical variables, which were determined by LPNHE.

In particular, the group provided the best estimate of the neutrino flux available, making it more precise through collateral activities of which they are responsible: namely a dedicated CERN experiment, NA61, that measured pion and kaon production and spectra, a basic ingredient for the neutrino flux calculations. The group is also responsible for the normalization of the flux calculation with the use of the near detector of the T2K experiment.

In addition, the group was the main actor in selecting the electron-type neutrino events.

In summary, the LPNHE group can be considered one of the main international actors for the first measurement of the angle theta13, a major breakthrough on the mixing of flavours in the lepton sector. Its measured magnitude is an important step towards the CP violation measurement. Other experiments have since improved the measurement and the worldwide competition for further progress is high.

The neutrino oscillation paper produced by T2K has received more than 600 citations in the last two years.

On the quark sector side, LPNHE is involved in two of the most important experiments in this domain, i.e. BaBar (ended in 2011) at a B-factory machine, and LHCb, at the LHC.

LPNHE contributed to all phases of the BaBar experiment, from the construction and the commissioning of the detector to the publication of many physics results. The group had and still has the responsibility of the analysis of the 3-body charmless decays of B hadrons. These are sophisticated analyses, based on Dalitz plots techniques, which produced measurements that were published in excellent physics journals. Very high quality theses have been written as a result.

The analysis techniques used in BaBar constitute an important know-how to be transferred to the LHCb experiment, which will allow much more precise measurements of the observables already measured at BaBar.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

The choice of major international collaborations, the best worldwide in the specific field of matter/antimatter asymmetry, attests to the high level of these groups.

LPNHE had several analysis coordination roles in T2K and NA61.

The group had a very visible role in the BaBar executive board and speakers' bureau, and contributed the IN2P3 project leader. LPNHE members gave several invited talks at conferences and workshops.. The small but active phenomenology group has been quite visible, regularly giving invited talks at conferences.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

A large effort in scientific communication is made by several members, with participation to public events, in conferences, radio and television, to publicize and explain to the general public the significance of understanding how the matter and antimatter behave differently. Due to the well-known cosmological implications, this is a theme of great public appeal.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life

The communication between members of each group is open and the information circulates at all level of researchers (from students to senior physicists) to everyone's satisfaction.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

Several members of groups are involved/invited to different level of physics schools in the domain of flavour violation. They teach courses for students (including high-schools students), PhD schools, but also courses at international schools for researchers: École de Gif (2010), SLAC (2010SLAC ( , 2011)), Master Classes, CERN-Asia School (2012) In the lepton flavor sector, a weak point of the group is the fact that it has attracted very few PhD students. As a result very few theses were produced, despite the important and high quality involvement of the group members in international activities.

The group working on the quark-flavour sector, with the participation to BaBar and now to LHCb, attracts young people who make high quality PhD theses, up to PhD level. The preparation acquired by these students is excellent, as shown by the fact that many of them find positions in other labs and other experiments.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy

The theme of lepton and quark flavour transitions and CP violation continues being of enormous scientific importance, therefore it is only natural that the two groups should plan to continue with their current international commitments.

The possible evolution of the neutrino measurements planned with the Hyper-Kamiokande project would be a good research direction for the long-term future. However the group's immediate future task is to complete data taking in order to conclude the current physics program, that requires 8x1021 protons on target: the current data are from only about 3x1020 protons, due to the unexpected stop caused by the disastrous earthquake in Japan last year. There is some uncertainty on how long it will take to complete this program, which might last until about 2020.

The challenging goal of measuring CP violation in the lepton sector is of paramount importance, for this is amongst the most important still open issues in particle physics.

The group working on heavy flavor has already started the transition from BaBar, now closed, to LHCb, which started in 2010 at the LHC.

LHCb will produce in the years to come the most precise measurements of very rare processes involving heavy quarks decays. Transitions with rates of the order of 10-9, 10-10 can be measured and compared to the Standard Model expectations. Deviations from the SM will reveal the existence of new particles, up to mass scale higher than can be reached by actual production of particles predicted in beyond-the-SM models. The LHCb experiment has proved to be able to do such measurements, and the LPNHE group is transferring its expertise on this physics field from BaBar directly to the new commitment. The disadvantage of joining the project well after its construction and installation will be overcome with a very active participation (already ongoing) to the operation and running of the present detector.

In the years to come LHCb is planning a major upgrade, to work at higher data acquisition speed from about 2018 onwards. The LPNHE group is planning to take the opportunity of participating in this upgrade. The upcoming instrumentation work will offer to students a broader, more complete spectrum of opportunities in experimental physics research.

Conclusion

 Strengths and opportunities:

Heavy quark physics:

• The group has acquired solid expert knowledge with the BaBar detector at PEP-II, where the members of the group had (and to some extent they still have) analysis coordination responsabilities.

• The group can transfer the expertise to the new commitments in the LHCb experiment.

• LHCb offers the best opportunity for the next decade to further explore the rarest decay processes of bhadrons, which may indirectly reveal new physics.

• Analysis techniques learned and successfully applied to BaBar data can be transferred to pp data analysis at LHC.

• This young group has potential to assume in the near future significant responsabilities within LHCb

• High quality thesis subjects can attract good PhD students.

Lepton flavour physics:

• Neutrino physics has always been and still is a line of research rich in measurements that goes to the essence of the standard model and explores anomalies or inconsistencies of its predictions.

• The group actively participated and carried out the first measurement of theta13, later confirmed and improved by other experiments.

• The group has strongly contributed to the first measurements of theta23 and Delta (m223) in T2K.

• The group has an important involvement in the ancillary NA61 experiment, very useful for improving neutrino flux calculations.

• The members of the group have analysis coordination responsabilities.

 Weaknesses and threats:

Heavy quark physics:

• At the moment the activity is shifting from BaBar (B-factory) to LHCb (at a proton machine). This implies differences and adjustments which must be addressed. However the transition could be fast considering the expertise of the people involved.

• Joining the LHCb experiment well after its construction is a handicap which must be overcome with a strong involvement in running and operating the detector.

Lepton flavour physics:

• the goal of T2K to collect 8x10 21 protons-on-target may depend on the availability in Japan of electrical power following the Fukushima earthquake, and may be linked to the issue of the HyperKamiokande project.

• Commitment in hardware aspects is small.

• Few PhD students are attracted to do a thesis in the group.

 Recommendations

Heavy quark physics:

• The group must define as soon as possible its involvement in the LHCb analyses where their skills are best put to good use (like 3-body charmless decays of B's and K*e+e-decays). This will allow them to contribute to the publication of new and more precise measurements, to take responsibilities before the end of first phase of LHC (around 2016), and to acquire in a short time the visibility and leadership that this group is capable of reaching.

• The participation in LHCb should be complemented by commitments in the upgrade phase of the detector, planned for the years 2013-2016. The choice of activities should be made keeping in mind of the technical strengths at LPNHE (calorimeters, silicon technologies). Activities in software High Level Triggers can be a very valuable choice.

• It would be desirable to strengthen the group, for the field of matter/antimatter asymmetry is one of the most promising ones in terms of testing the standard model and discovering new physics at high mass scales

Lepton flavour physics:

• Clarifying the neutrino mass hierarchy and measuring CP violation in the lepton sector is one of the most important, most exciting open problems in today's particle physics. The physics program of LPNHE is enriched by this important activity. It is recommended that the LPNHE remains active in this field, by participating to new projects beyond the T2K.

• It is desirable for the group to get more involved in the instrumentation aspects of present and future projects, exploiting the well-equipped workshops and the technical expertise of the unit.

Theme 3:

Assessment of scientific quality and outputs

Cosmic Ray research at LPNHE is performed by two groups, working on Gamma-Ray Astronomy (GRA) and on Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) GRA: Since its completion in 2003, the HESS experiment has revolutionized the field of high-energy gamma astronomy. It has increased the number of identified astrophysical sources from a few to more than one hundred and established the existence of high-energy gamma ray emission from a variety of sources (AGNs, SNRs, binaries, PWN, etc.) many of which were previously unknown.

The international community has recognized the success of the HESS achievements by a number of awards (Descartes-2007, Rossi-2010). The HESS experiment has published 57 articles during the period 2007-2012. Based on the citations of its publications HESS is ranked 10th in the list of high impact observatories.

UHECR: The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest and most sensitive cosmic ray detector. It has made important contributions to the understanding of ultra high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). For example it has confirmed the presence of a cut-off in the energy spectra, consistent with expectations from the GZK process, but which could also be explained by photodisintegration of heavy nuclei or alternatively a limitation in the maximal energies of particles emitted by the source. The experiment also indicates that the CR composition changes from proton to Iron at the highest energies. Nevertheless, it should be noted that other UHECR experiments do not necessarily confirm all of these observations. Auger has published a total of 33 papers in reviewed journals, with over 2500 citations.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

GRA: The HESS group has made important technical contributions to the design and construction of the telescopes, in particular to the construction, calibration and maintenance of the cameras for both HESS I and HESS II. The group is generally recognized by the Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope community as having leading expertise in the construction and calibration of Cherenkov telescope cameras.

On the analysis front, members of the group have important physics coordination responsibilities within the HESS experiment. The group is particularly active in the search for dark matter and tests of Lorentz invariance. Group members were the leading authors of the corresponding papers and the limits on these quantities are the best currently available.

The group has suffered from the departure of a number of researchers holding permanent posts. Nevertheless, recently two new researchers have strengthened the group.

UHECR:

The Auger group at LPHNE has played a leading role at the national and international level for the operation of the experiment and analysis of the data. Members of the group have major responsibilities in the management of the experiment (Publication Committee chairperson, Analysis Coordinator). Some of the analyses conducted by members of the group have resulted in papers with a high number of citations.

Members of both groups regularly present their results at major national and international workshops and conferences as well as invited seminars at national universities and are invited to give lectures at summer schools.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

The study of high-energy cosmic phenomena in the Universe has great appeal for the general public. Consequently both groups are frequently invited to give presentations to the general public, national TV, schools and to write articles in popular science magazines. The groups participate every year to the annual 'Fête des Sciences'. The year 2012 has been particular rich of outreach activities based around the HESS 100th anniversary and the year of Astronomy. The Auger group has also been involved in 'mini-Auger', a project for high schools based on operating a small charged particle detector.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life

The groups are a well-balanced mix of junior and senior researchers and engineers.

Both groups are well structured and organize regular weekly groups meetings to discuss progress and plan the next steps. Regular meetings are also made with other local labs collaborating on technical contributions for the future experiments. Annual national meetings with other French labs contributing to the experiments are also held.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

Both groups are very active in training PhD students ; six PhD students have graduated or are in progress within the HESS group and also six from the Auger group during the period of evaluation. A total of five members are professors or lecturers at the University. The CNRS researchers also contribute to the lectures courses for the master's program.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy

Data taking and data analysis with HESS and Auger should be continued until the end of the decade and will be a major activity of the groups.

The lower energy threshold of the HESS-II camera offers excellent opportunities to study low mass dark matter and extend the distance horizon; aspects of considerable importance for the analyses currently being pursued by the group. The successful construction and operation of CTA will be the next important step forward for the field; it is expected to detect an order of magnitude more sources offering unprecedented statistics for population studies of the various source types. The leading role of the group in the NecTar/GATE proposal for the front-end electronics of CTA is a natural continuation of the group's efforts for HESS.

Significant progress in the understanding of high-energy cosmic rays will rely on improved techniques for measuring the mass composition and at least an order of magnitude increase of statistics; this will not be forthcoming from five more years of standard Auger operation. An evaluation of the potential of the radio detection technique to augment the duty cycle of the fluorescence detectors and facilitate the instrumentation of a larger surface -O(30,000 km2) -is of high priority. The EASIER and GIGAS radio wave detection projects proposed and led by the LPNHE group should provide the answer as to whether this approach is really feasible. If the results are positive the community would then be in a good position to propose a cost-effective next generation surface-array. The proposal for vertical segmentation of the water Cherenkov arrays, to enhance composition studies, looks promising. The MNEN team is strongly involved in dark energy studies through type Ia supernovae since the beginning of the Supernovae Cosmology Project (SCP). One LPNHE member co-authored the pioneering papers which led the Nobel prize in physics in 2011. Since this beginning, the LPNHE became one of the top teams in the world, and now has a worldwide leading position with the publication of the first data set of SNLS and its scientific interpretation, completed by having obtained a local SNIa sample with the SNFactory project. The quality and richness of the scientific production of the group is evidenced by the numerous publications in top astrophysics (Ap.J., A&A, MNRAS) and physics (Phys. Rev.) journals, as well as awards received (Nobel Prize to the leader of the SCP, the Gruber Prize, the Silver and Bronze CNRS medals). The qualitative aspect must be emphasized: the excellence of this work is due to the rigour of the additional analyses and to the new methods introduced: the new algorithm to monitor the light curve of supernovae and the development on a telescope calibration device (DICE) are emblematic examples. The theoretical activity, within its boundaries, is worthhile, as can be seen by its publications.

Assessment of the unit's academic reputation and appeal

The contribution of the LPNHE cosmology team is central to the world position of the SNLS project. The reward has been its international recognition and has been instrumental for its significant involvement in the LSST project. In additions its expertise in telescope calibration puts it in a strong position to get involved in other international projects. This position benefits the entire French community. Having been recognized by the award of two medals of the CNRS, and having produced several highly cited, major publications in recent years, the LPNHE researchers are present as invited speakers in many international events. The team obviously attracts many PhD students and postdocs. However the difficulties in funding such positions does not allow to fully exploit the training potential of this group.

Assessment of the unit's interaction with the social, economic and cultural environment

The problem of dark energy has emerged as one of the major problems of cosmology and modern theoretical physics. This naturally led to its successful dissemination in society. The LPNHE cosmology team has significant activity in the diffusion towards popular media. Its diffusion activities in schools and colleges is positively recognized.

Assessment of the unit's organisation and life

The team is mainly organized around the projects to measure distant supernovae. The size of the team does not call for elaborate organization. The complications associated with the physical move of the laboratory did not affect its scientific production.

The synergy between the theory and experiment could be further developed.

A significant involvement in various national bodies (CNU, PNCG, Labex...) should be noted.

Assessment of the unit's involvement in training through research

With a significant proportion of teachers from university, members of the team are heavily involved in university through courses both academic and training at different levels, including the master level, as well as in summer schools.

Assessment of the five-year plan and strategy

The team is certainly at a turning point in its strategic choices: involvement in LSST at an early stage of the project offers an opportunity that must obviously be developed. The proposed strategy for the coming years capitalizes on the acquired know-how while broadening the scope of its scientific involvement in large programs (such as new astrophysical studies from samples of supernovae) and addresses other cosmological probes that provide additional information. The early commitment on the LSST project allows a highly visible role at the international level and a leadership role at the national level. This approach is very relevant, positioning the LPNHE as a national leader in a broad international program that is likely to be the flagship on dark energy research for this coming decade. The strategy of investigating more cosmological probes and problems distinct from dark energy is very relevant, but the necessary changes are important and may need to be conducted in a narrow time window: in a very competitive topic in which the Anglo-Saxon prevalence is often the rule, the positioning of the laboratory will be critical to ensure optimal visibility, rewarding the level of investment and quality of its production.

Participation in a new project like Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a very sensible direction for the short/medium term. The LPNHE commitment in the EUCLID project is at a relatively low level because this involvement is restricted to the supernovae subject that is not a major part of EUCLID. Although EUCLID is a long-term project, it should occupy the front of the scene after the LSST on the dark energy issue and on some legacy aspects. It would therefore be beneficial to LPNHE to increase its foothold in this project without having to change its strategy elsewhere.

The theoretical component is specific and original in this laboratory and could produce interesting synergies if an appropriate strategy is implemented, allowing further added value to the observational work on dark energy.

The SWOT analysis of the team broadly matches the various elements listed above. The analysis shows a very good understandind on the current position of the team, as well as of its strengths, of what can be improved and of the identifiable risks.

Conclusion

 Strengths and opportunities: This is a world-leading team on the study of dark energy by means of type Ia Supernovae. Its achievements on SNIa observations are the world reference and are not yet superseded. The team has developed a coherent strategy to capitalize on its expertise in accurate photometry both by software and instrumental tools. This has allowed the team to be involved early on as a major partner of LSST, the only one not from US, leading the French participation in this project.

It will be also a key point in view of their possible involvement in other international projects like DES.

Its scientific production consists of numerous papers in the best astrophysical journals, with many citations. Their strength is attested to by numerous invited talks at international conferences and two national prizes (CNRS medals) and the Gruber international prize (through the SCP collaboration). Broadening the probes of dark energy and the spectrum of scientific questions addressed from their analyses is strategically appropriate. The presence of a (small) theory component is potentially a catalyst for it.

 Weaknesses and threats:

It is challenging to maintain the very high standard the team has reached unless one can lead one of the next generation experiments devoted to dark energy! Broadening the team's expertise beyond SNIa may well be necessary on a short time scale, in a context where recruiting PhD students and post-docs might be difficult. The domain targeted by the theory component is focussed and somehow far away from the field of the observational activity. A better synergy would be highly beneficial, but difficult to achieve.

Theme 1:

  Ms. G. BERNARDI, G. CALDERINI, S. DE CECCO, D. LACOUR,

	Masses et Interactions Fondamentales (MIF)
	[Expériences CDF D0 ATLAS et projet ILC/Calice]
	Manager's names:

Ph SCHWEMLING Workforce Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents As at 30/06/2012 As at 01/01/2014

	FTE for permanent professors	9	9
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers	9	10
	FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.)	3.4	3.4
	FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.)	0	1
	FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	2
	FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students	0	0
	FTE for other contractual staff without research duties	0	0
	FTE for doctoral students	11
	TOTAL	34.4	23.4

 Detailed assessments

Theme 2 :

 2 Asymétrie Matière-Antimatière (AMA) [Expériences NA61, T2K, Babar et LHCb] Ms E. BEN-HAIM, J. DUMARCHEZ

	Managers' names:
	Workforce
	Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents	As at 30/06/2012	As at 01/01/2014
	FTE for permanent professors	5	5
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers	6	7
	FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.)	0	0
	FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.)	1	1
	FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	2
	FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students	2	2
	FTE for other contractual staff without research duties	0	0
	FTE for doctoral students	2
	TOTAL	18	15

 Detailed assessments

Assessment of scientific quality and outputs

  Nature et Origine du Rayonnement Cosmique de Hautes Energies (RCHE) [Expériences Auger, HESS et projet CTA]

	Workforce
	Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents	As at 30/06/2012	As at 01/01/2014
	FTE for permanent professors	5	5
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers	3	4
	FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.)	3.3	4.3
	FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.)	1	1
	FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	3
	FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students	0	0
	FTE for other contractual staff without research duties	0	0
	FTE for doctoral students	7
	TOTAL	22.3	14.3

Manager's names:

Ms. A. LETESSIER-SELVON, J-P. TAVERNET, P. VINCENT  Detailed assessments

Theme 4 :

 4 Matière Noire et Energie Noire (MNEN) [Expériences SCP, SNF, SNLS et projets LSST et EUCLID] Ms. P. ANTILOGUS, P. ASTIER, J. GUY, M. JOYCE, R. PAIN

	Manager's names:
	Workforce
	Theme workforce in Full Time Equivalents	As at 30/06/2012	As at 01/01/2014
	FTE for permanent professors	6	6
	FTE for permanent EPST or EPIC researchers	6	6
	FTE of other permanent staff without research duties (IR, IE, PRAG, etc.)	6.5	7.5
	FTE for other professors (PREM, ECC, etc.)	0	0
	FTE for postdoctoral students having spent at least 12 months in the unit	2
	FTE for other EPST or EPIC researchers (DREM, etc.) excluding postdoctoral students	1	1
	FTE for other contractual staff without research duties	1	0
	FTE for doctoral students	8
	TOTAL	30.5	26.5

 Detailed assessments

Assessment of scientific quality and outputs

Grading tables and percentage per field

  The future activities in DES and to a lower level in LSST are not yet fully secured.

		6  Statistics
	Critères	C1 Qualité scientifique et production	C2 Rayonnement et attractivité académiques	C3 Relations avec l'environnement social, économique et culturel	C4 Organisation et vie de l'entité	C5 Implication dans la formation par la recherche	C6 Stratégie et projet à cinq ans
	A+	66	62	45	45	53	39
	A	35	33	50	45	43	59
	B	6	12	9	10	8	10
	C	0	0	0	2	2	1
	Non Noté	3	3	6	8	4	1
	Critères	C1 Qualité scientifique et production	C2 Rayonnement et attractivité académiques	C3 Relations avec l'environnement social, économique et culturel	C4 Organisation et vie de l'entité	C5 Implication dans la formation par la recherche	C6 Stratégie et projet à cinq ans
	A+	60%	56%	41%	41%	48%	35%
	A	32%	30%	45%	41%	39%	54%
	B	5%	11%	8%	9%	7%	9%
	C	0%	0%	0%	2%	2%	1%
	Non Noté	3%	3%	5%	7%	4%	1%

Histogram

Histogram

With respect to this score, the research unit concerned by this report and its in-house teams received Permanent researchers from Institutions and similar positions 24 26 26 N3: Other permanent staff (without research duties) 47 48 3 N4: Other professors (Emeritus Professor, on-contract Professor, etc.Other researchers from Institutions (Emeritus Research Director, Postdoctoral students, visitors, etc.Other contractual staff (without research duties)

Conclusion

 Overall opinion of the theme:

Both the Gamma-Ray Astrophysics and the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays work are at the forefront of research, and must continue.

 Strengths and opportunities: GRA: The HESS/CTA group has a clear path forward towards an exciting program of exploration of the highenergy gamma Universe. Once the difficulties in commissioning of HESS-II are resolved this will allow the technical efforts of the group to focus more on the CTA project and offer a novel and very promising physics program while preparing CTA.

The NecTar/GATE proposal for the CTA front-end electronics has been well received by the collaboration and the project is proceeding well. Consequently, the NecTar approach has reasonable prospects to be chosen as the baseline solution from amongst the other competing technologies within the collaboration. UHECR: The main strength of the group is its expertise and its prestige within the collaboration, based the scientific and technical leadership positions it held over the duration of the experiment. The group will remain in this position because of its role in exploring the novel radio detection techniques and in segmenting the water Cherenkov detectors.

Increasing the density of the surface detectors with an infill array, will lower the energy threshold and provide new information on the energy region around the knee. The group's efforts to improve the trigger efficiency and reconstructions algorithms will also contribute to enhancing the detector sensitivity.

 Weaknesses and threats: GRA: The apparent lack of funding for the HESS-I maintenance is a worry and threatens to impact the live time of the telescope and consequently the physics output from the experiment. Any further delays in the HESS-II commissioning may have a negative impact on the start of CTA funding.

The main threat for CTA, apart from delays in funding from the stakeholders, is a lack of coordination at the national level and delays in agreement of strategy amongst the large number of partners. Significant delays in the project risk inducing evaporation of key expertise and manpower. UHECR: The future for the field of UHECR study is not entirely clear. Given the statistics already accumulated by Auger, further data taking with the current configuration will only yield marginal progress on some of the issues opened up by this experiment, such as the origin of the highest-energy events. This fact may call into question the extension of the Auger MoU beyond 2015.

 Recommendations: GRA: In order to reduce the load on the technical team it is recommended to transfer the responsibility of the HESS-I camera maintenance to another group in the collaboration.

On CTA, efforts should be made by the collaboration to adopt, where possible, common technology amongst the different sized telescopes of the various countries. This would clearly reduce costs and can only help the final integration of the telescopes into a coherent infrastructure.

UHECR: The addition of a denser "infill" array is also a promising approach to the open questions in the "ankle" energy region. This line of inquiry should be energetically pursued by the LPNHE team.

Addressing the highest energies requires new approaches and certainly, given its promise, the radio technique should be fully explored as rapidly as possible. A demonstration of the feasibility of the radio technique will then allow the group to propose a next generation ground-based array, or if proven unfeasible, to seriously consider alternative approaches (e.g. JEM-EUSO, large volume neutrino telescopes, etc.).

 Recommendations:

The team has gained international visibility in just a few years, and can be regarded as being a world leader on the topic of photometry of SNIa for cosmological applications. Its involvement in LSST is to be supported. The strategy to broaden the astrophysical questions being addressed, the probes of dark energy to be studied, and the projects in which team can be involved is very relevant and might need to be acted upon in a short time period.

The LPNHE cosmology team would benefit from consolidating its implication in EUCLID on the basis of its technical expertise (photometry) and through topics beyond SNIa that will be part of their plans to expand their research subjects. This is very relevant as the leader of EUCLID is a member of another laboratory (IAP) in the same university. The university could and should encourage this synergy by favouring a better integration and should accordingly provide substantial support. As a matter of fact, the "tutelles" should provide above-average support to this team to ensure that it can pursue its high-level scientific activities in a very competitive area and in which large dedicated international facilities will be the drivers.

Specific premises visited:

Laboratories, clean rooms, experimental facilities, shops.

Conduct or programme of visit :

1 st day: 12h30 -14h00:

Closed session of Committee (preparation, cold lunch) 14h00 -17h00:

Plenary session 14h00-15h00

Director of LPNHE: Summary and plans 15h00-17h00 4 talks, 30 min. each: Highlights of the 4 teams 17h00-18h00

Visits of the facilities 18h00-18h30

Meeting with postdoctoral fellows Ce rapport a été transmis au directeur du laboratoire. Nous prenons acte des recommandations qui ont été formulées et qui n'appellent aucun commentaire particulier de notre part.

Restant à votre disposition pour de plus amples informations, je vous prie de croire, M. le Président, à l'expression de mes salutations respectueuses.

Le Vice -Président Recherche et Innovation

Paul Indelicato