The goal of the project is to develop an extremely fast but compact processor, with supercomputer performances, for pattern recognition, data reduction and interpretation. The proposed hardware features flexibility for potential applications in a wide range of fields, from triggering in high energy physics to DNA sequence alignment. In general, any artificial intelligence application based on massive pattern recognition could largely benefit from the foreseen architecture, provided data are suitably prepared and formatted. To this end we propose the design and the production of a standard-cell CMOS chip in a deep sub-micron commercial process. This chip, based on associative memories (AM), will be able to process at very high rate large amounts of data, like for example the information coming from high-energy physics tracking detectors. The designed AM chips will be paired with an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) on dedicated processing boards which will perform high-level analyses on the filtered data at unprecedented speed. The primary aim of the FastTrack project is to demonstrate that this processing unit can perform online track reconstruction of full events at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in its High-Luminosity Phase (HL-LHC), when the instantaneous luminosity of the accelerator will be increased by almost a factor ten, to reach several units of 1034 cm-2s-1. Indeed, under these conditions the capability of the LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS to pre-select interesting events inside an enormous background cannot be maintained with the use of standard readout and trigger systems, and online tracking becomes mandatory. Both collaborations plan to include this feature in their respective upgrade programs. This project will allow initiating a strong collaboration between ATLAS and CMS in this domain, resulting in the development of a generic AM-based hardware device usable by both experiments. Finally, we plan to exploit the potential of these new devices in non-HEP applications. In particular, DNA sequence alignment is a complex procedure where the use of an AM chip might lead to significant improvements. Demonstrating this would be a significant breakthrough in the field, and will open new scientific directions for AM-chip technology dissemination.

The project aims to study the impact of the time accuracy in calorimeters on the reconstruction quality of Particle Flow Algorithms (PFA) and in particular to determine which time accuracy is necessary to improve the separation of close by hadronic and electromagnetic showers. To do so, the modelling of the timing response of the prototype calorimeters SiWECAL (electromagnetic) and SDHCAL (hadronic) equipped with MGRPC detectors (Multi-layer Glass Resistive Plate Chambers) will be performed and included as input to the ARBOR and APRIL PFA algorithm.

The project aims at the improved theoretical modelling and consistent interpretation of experimental data on very heavy and superheavy atomic nuclei with charge numbers Z greater than 82 and neutron numbers N beyond 126. These finite self-bound systems, many of which owe their very existence to quantal shell effects, exhibit a rich phenomenology of excitation and decay modes that are governed by the competition between the strong nuclear interaction, Coulomb repulsion, surface effects, and quantal shell structure of single-particle states. The available experimental data begin to reveal a consistent picture of their structure in terms of deformed shapes and shells, which at present, however, is not yet satisfactorily described by purely microscopic models. The main deficiency that has been clearly identified, and which is common to all presently available types of effective interactions, concerns the distance between single-particle levels near the Fermi energy. While global trends of observables are unaffected, the description of individual features of specific nuclei is in many cases lacking. The goal of our project is to arrive at an unprecedented level of accuracy for the theoretical description of very heavy and superheavy nuclei through the adjustment of an effective interaction containing qualitatively new and hitherto unused higher-order terms. The fit of its parameters will take into account information about relevant properties of states of heavy nuclei and be accompanied by an analysis of statistical errors. The resulting interactions will subsequently be employed in systematic symmetry-unrestricted self-consistent mean-field calculations of a wide spectrum of observables of interest addressed in in-beam gamma-ray and conversion-electron spectroscopy, implanted-ion decay spectroscopy, and laser spectroscopy. The results then can be used for the planning and evaluation of experiments at existing and future heavy-ion-beam facilities. We expect this project to make a decisive contribution to the progress in the theoretical description of the heaviest elements that will expand our understanding of these systems.

Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) are the only cosmological probe able to map accurately the cosmic expansion and structure formation in the late Universe -- the other techniques (BAO, RSD) being cosmic variance limited at low redshifts. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is the only instrument able to cover extragalactic sky twice a night, making it the most fantastic transient discovery machine ever built. By 2023, the ZTF SNIa sample will reach O(4500) SNIa with an exquisite photometric sampling. We request support from ANR to carry out the calibration effort that will turn this sample into a (legacy) cosmology-grade dataset. We will then build on this effort to produce (1) the best constraints on the nature of dark energy (2) a measurement of the growth rate of structures from SN peculiar velocities (3) a new measurement of H0, along with expansion isotropy tests. These measurements are key to investigate the tensions that have appeared between probes of the late and early Universe. The project is structured into two interconnected parts: first, a technical effort to produce from the raw ZTF pixels the calibrated light curves of all the transients discovered by the project. Second, an analysis effort to produce standardized luminosity distances and the three key cosmological constraints of our scientific programme. At the core of our technical effort is the control of the survey calibration, with a precision about 5 times better than the current state-of-the-art (~0.1% for the flux calibration and survey uniformity, 0.1-nm, for the characterization of the instrument passbands). These aggressive requirements are motivated by the measurement of the Dark Energy equation of state, dominated by calibration systematic uncertainties. The two other probes are less demanding and would benefit from a fast increase of low-z statistics. The project is organized around incremental data releases (DR). Each DR will bring a sizable increase of the sample size, and improvements in data reduction. DR1 ("state of the art") will occur 14 months after the beginning of the project, and will allow us to initiate growth rate measurements. DR2 ("High statistics"), one year later, with a preliminary calibration, will unlock the two other probes. DR3 ("final data release") will occur one year before the end of the project, in time for the final round of cosmology papers. The risk mitigation analysis of this project shows that it is of the Low Risk/High Yield category: the survey instrument is in operation and one third of the expected sample is on disk. Prototypes of the instrument characterization hardware exist already. Computing resources matching our requirements have been allocated by the IN2P3 computing center. The ZTF robotic telescopes are currently unaffected by the COVID19 pandemic. In summary: the overall risk level of the project is extremely low, for a very high scientific return on investment, and our most serious risk is lack of the manpower required to complete our programme. Joining ZTF-II as a Major Partner costs 600k$. The technical work we propose, along with an in-kind hardware contribution has been valued 400k$. If we manage to find 100k$, IN2P3 has pledged to match with 100k$ in cash which will finalize our cash contribution. With this proposal, we ask for (1) 100 k$ as a contribution to the ZTF running costs (2) three 3-year junior postdoc positions, each devoted to one of our three key cosmological probes. Each ANR postdoc will work ~12 months on a technical contribution critical for her/his science topic, ~2 months to the preparation of the data releases, and the remaining of her time to one of the three key cosmological analyses. ANR support in cash and manpower is critical to enable this project, and secure its return on investment. Our program will have a strong impact on the pre-LSST cosmological constraints. The ZTF dataset will dominate the low-z statistics for many years after the beginning of LSST.

The future RICOCHET neutrino experiment, to be deployed at the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL) research nuclear reactor, aims to exploit the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process to search for new physics in the electroweak sector. These include for instance the existence of sterile neutrinos and of new mediators, that could be related to the Dark Matter problem, and the possibility of Non Standard Interactions that would have tremendous implications on the global neutrino physics program. The Ricochet experiment will use a kg-scale cryogenic detector array, composed of 30 g-scale individual Ge and Zn crystals, with unparalleled particle identification capabilities down to the demonstrated 50 eV energy threshold. Thanks to these unique detector performance, Ricochet will have an unprecedented sensitivity to CENNS induced nuclear recoils down to the sub-100 eV energy range, where signs of new physics are expected to arise. The physics potential of RICOCHET at ILL is uniquely high. Our studies show that we will observe a daily rate of neutrino interactions of about 15 events/day combined with an expected signal-to-background ratio of 3, leading to a 5-sigma CENNS detection significance in only a couple of days. A percentage-level precision CENNS measurement, leading to unprecedented sensitivity to various exotic physics scenarios, will therefore be achieved after only 1 year of reactor ON data. Based on the complementary resources existing within the international collaboration, this ANR research program and requested funds will be dedicated to design, build and deploy the future RICOCHET low-energy neutrino observatory at the ILL research reactor by 2023.