Swiss Contributions to EST

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Switzerland plays a vital role in the development of EST through technological and scientific contributions.

National Partners & Stakeholders 

​Swiss contribution is crucial for the EST, thanks to the unique scientific and technological innovations developed in Switzerland, especially in the areas of astrophysical polarimetry, big data, HPC and AI. Swiss academic institutions, industry, and public at large will benefit enormously from the participation in EST. The Swiss contribution is structured in four areas:

  1. Management
  2. Construction (instrumentation and Swiss-node DC)
  3. Science, and
  4. Communication/Public Engagement. 

History of Solar Physics in Switzerland

  1. Historical Foundations: In 1849, Prof. Rudolf Wolf (ETHZ) introduced the Zurich Sunspot Number. Today, this vital work is continued by Specola Solare Ticinese and IRSOL, with data archived at ETHZ/MeteoSwiss and distributed via the SILSO datacenter.
  2. Pioneering Space Missions: From Prof. Johannes Geiss’s solar wind experiment on the Apollo missions (1969) to the current STIX instrument on ESA’s Solar Orbiter (FHNW/Prof. Samuel Krucker), Switzerland remains at the forefront of space-based observation.
  3. High-Precision Technology: The ZIMPOL polarimetry system (ETHZ, IRSOL-SUPSI) revolutionized the field with sensitivities of 10−6, uncovering hidden solar magnetism. This technology has even generated spin-offs in exoplanet research and biopharmaceutics.
  4. Academic Growth: Recognizing the critical importance of solar research, Switzerland has recently established new professorships at ETHZ (2019), USI (2022), and UNIBE (2023).

Timeline & Roadmaps

Implementation Phase (2028-2035)

Drawing on world-leading expertise, the Swiss consortium contributes to the EST construction and commissioning in two primary areas: Instrumentation and Digital Technology.

1. Instrumentation Technology

Optics & Polarization Control

Switzerland is responsible for the heart of the telescope’s polarimetric capabilities. This includes the design, construction, laboratory testing, and commissioning of:

  • High-Precision Modulation Units: For the Integral-Field Spectropolarimeters (IFS-S, a.k.a. EMBER; IFS-M) and Tunable Imaging Spectropolarimeters (TIS), covering blue, visible, and red channels. (Institutes: IRSOL, SUPSI)
  • Polarimetric Calibration Unit (POLCAL): A critical system for the synchronization of polarization measurements and telescope calibration, enabling simultaneous multi-wavelength operation. (Institutes: HEIG-VD, IRSOL)

Advanced Detectors

  • Next-Generation Sensors: Development of a novel optical sensor designed specifically for high-precision solar imaging spectropolarimetry. This technology aims to eventually replace currently planned CCDs. The initiative is supported by an Innosuisse project (originally for biopharmaceutics), ensuring that experience gained in other sectors is applied to solar physics. (Institutes: SUPSI, IRSOL)

2. Digital Technology: The Swiss Data Center (CH-DC)

The EST Data Center is a distributed infrastructure. While a near-telescope node handles initial data capture, the Swiss Node (CH-DC) plays a central role in archiving, managing, and processing data to higher levels.

Data Management & Infrastructure

  • Logistics & Archiving: Implementation of robust data logistics and archiving systems, leveraging experience from similar projects like SKAO. (FHNW)
  • Virtual Research Environment (VRE): Serving end-users with data products via a VRE currently developed at CERN for large international research infrastructures (ESCAPE members). (CERN/ESCAPE)
  • Storage & Processing: Operation of a “vCluster” for open access storage and processing, similar to the models used for SKAO and CTA. (CSCS)

Data Processing (Level 0 to 1)

  • High-Throughput Pipelines: Development of a “digital twin” processing pipeline capable of handling PB/day data rates, including evaluation, prioritization, and visualization. (USI/SI)
  • Optimization: Advanced algorithms for data compression (FHNW) and polarimetric calibration. (IRSOL)

Advanced Data Products (Level 1 $\to$ 2) & AI Integration

To address the exabyte-scale data volume of EST, the Swiss Node is implementing breakthrough technologies:

  • AI-Driven Inversion: Implementation of Transformer-based architectures (adapted from Neural Machine Translation) to perform Stokes inversion orders of magnitude faster than traditional codes.
  • Physics-Informed Generative AI: Initial inference of physical parameters using pipelines that combine High-Performance Computing (HPC) with AI.
  • Compression & Uncertainty: Utilization of Vector Quantized Variational Autoencoders (VQ-VAE) for massive data compression (“tokenization”) and probabilistic parameter inference. This ensures physically consistent results with quantified uncertainty using Bayesian inference.(Institutes: ZHAW, EAWAG, USI/ECO, USI/SI, USI/IDSIA, FHNW, IRSOL – running on CSCS GPU clusters)

Multi-Wavelength Prototyping

  • Prototyping pipelines for the combined use of UV, visible, and radio solar irradiance data. (PMOD, UNIBE/IAP, MeteoSwiss)

Simulation & Cooperation

  • Data Simulations: Numerical simulations of EST data using 3D polarized radiative transfer codes and RMHD simulations to test all processing pipelines. (IRSOL)
  • Synergy: Close cooperation with other Research Infrastructures, including SKAO (FHNW) and space instrumentation projects (FHNW).

Operation Phase (2035+)

Once the telescope is operational, Switzerland will continue to play a key role in the scientific exploitation and management of the facility.

  • Swiss Data Center Operation: The CH-DC will be operated as a virtual cluster (vCluster) at CSCS, following cost and operational models similar to other major infrastructures like SKAO and CTA.
  • Operational Support: Continued contribution to the general operation costs of the observatory.
  • Joint Science Programs: Coordination with other large Research Infrastructures to develop joint observing programs. This connects EST with space and ground-based facilities where Switzerland is already active, including DKIST, ESO/ALMA, SKAO, and Solar Orbiter (STIX, EUI).