VAMDC Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (.org) Coordinator: M.L. Dubernet, Paris GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

VAMDC in a nutshell International collaboration between groups involved in the generation, evaluation, and use of atomic and molecular data (A&M data). Aims: creating a well-documented interoperable interface to existing A&M data resources. Funded by EU-FP7 Research Infrastructures programme, started July 2009, until end Consortium: 15 partner institutes from six EU and three non-EU countries + external partners. GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Schematic diagram of the VAMDC infrastructure GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Core databases Developed and maintained at partner institutes, about 20 databases Atomic data for astrophysics − 7 databases Molecular data − 8 databases Solids and liquids data − 2 databases Reaction rate data for astrophysics – 2 databases GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

CHIANTI Astrogrid (service) KIDA BASECOL CDMS VALD VOPARIS (services) CH4 STARK-B SPECTR-W3 Tomsk NIST CFA CO2, O3, H2O Moscow Uppsala Venezuela TIPTOPBase, xstarDB PAH LASP UMIST GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter Emol GhoSST HITRAN

User Communities Atmospheric Science – input for complex terrestrial atmosphere/climate models, determination of concentrations and radiative transport of about 100 species, e.g. water Astrophysics, Astrochemistry and Planetary Science – great need for reliable A&M data because of extraordinary range of physical conditions Plasma Technologies – plasma-assisted materials processing or surface modification, e.g. manufacture of semi-conductor chips. A&M data needed for modelling chemically active plasmas. GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

User Communities cont’d Lighting – A&M databases needed for development of future light sources – new working gas species, e.g. Xe, P, and metal alloys such as InSb Fusion Energy Research – design and operation of vital fusion device systems require large amounts of A&M collisional and spectroscopic data Radiation Science – radiotherapy models exploring damage of DNA by radiation need A&M data, e.g. electron collisions with DNA components and other biomolecules GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Challenges Standards / data models – definitions of standard data descriptions ongoing – basis for VAMDC is XSAMS − XML Schema for Atoms, Molecules, and Solids – VAMDC will test standards and propose new extensions Documentation, quality assurance and references Implementation/performance – XML vs. CSV or VO-table; synchronous vs. a-synchronous – using Python data manipulation functions and packages, fast data delivery is possible regardless of format GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Management and Networking Activities 1.Project Management – financial control, reporting to EU, web site, wiki – appointing Strategic Advisory Board (external experts) and interacting with it 2.Scientific/Technical Coordination – project planning and progress monitoring – work package leader meetings – interaction with external projects, e.g. VO GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Management and Networking Activities 3.Dissemination and Training – interface of VAMDC to wider community of producers and users of data – organization of one annual “VAMDC meeting” and 2−3 scientific workshops per year, development of tutorials – 2010 meeting was April 2010 at Open University – 2010 workshops: data needs for radiation damage modeling, plasma processing, and lighting industry, early and mid July, at RADAM 2010 (Madrid) and ESCAMPIG XX (Belgrade) – 2011 meeting: spring 2011 at University of Cambridge GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Service Activities 4.Infrastructure Deployment – Implementation of standards into data access protocols for core databases, implementation of registries – Development of web portal and desktop access software – Expansion of VAMDC with new resources 5.Support to the Infrastructure – Maintainance and monitoring of the infrastructure – Technical support to users – Data preservation – backup and mirroring – Quality assurance and testing GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Joint Research Activities 6.Interoperability – extension of data model and XML schema (XSAMS), e.g. description of molecular states, description of line shapes – creation of dictionaries, definition of access protocols and query languages, definiton of registry structure 7.Publishing Tools – developing tools and formulating procedures to include new atomic and molecular data into VAMDC GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Joint Research Activities GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Work packages – Joint Research Activities 8.New mining and Integration Tools – developing extensions to the baseline infrastructure – tools for manipulation of data, e.g. cross-matching data from different databases – obstacles for molecules: unique identification of species and energy levels, sorting, missing information, unknown level of accuracy, … – advanced data mining services: data access work flows targeted at specific user groups, e.g. solar physics, astrochemistry GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter

Conclusions Atomic and molecular data play a key role in many scientific areas. Specialised database development in each area is inefficient and may lead to significant duplication of effort and accuracy problems. VAMDC aims to provide unifying structures and protocols for interlinking of databases worldwide. Provision of the actual data remains in the hands of the experts in each particular field. GREAT-ESF Workshop, August 2010, Vienna, Ulrike Heiter