Open Science for the CBM experiment

Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt

Published online: 7 October 2025

Abstract

In recent years, there has been significant political and administrative interest in “Open Science”, which on one hand has led to additional obligations but also to compelling financial backing. For institutes and scientific collaborations, the funding opportunities may have brought some focus on these topics, but there is also a significant hope, though engagement in open science infrastructure and culture, a possible benefit on scientific output though the sharing of knowledge among and between scientists and citizens.

The Facility for AntiProton and Ion Research in Europe is a particle accelerator just outside Darmstadt in Germany, which is under final construction at a site adjacent to the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. One of its five scientific pillars is the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment, which is now prioritised for completion. For CBM, as a leading international scientific collaboration, an active open science policy is an imperative.

In this contribution, we outline a fully-formed policy towards “Open Software” and describe how we overcame difficulties to facilitate a F.A.I.R.-level of openness. We discuss the internally contentious issue of “Open Data” and the availability to technically test data policies at the prototype experiment mini-CBM, before application to our more important physics-rich data coming from our future world-class experiment.