One of the central themes in modern day nuclear physics is the exploration of the structure of nuclei far from stability – the so-called “exotic” nuclei. Of particular interest is the light (A<40) neutron dripline region, which not only provides an ideal testing ground for many theoretical models of nuclear structure but also exhibits a number of unique phenomena, such as neutron haloes. Experimentally it has become possible in recent years to begin to access light unbound systems lying beyond the neutron dripline in this region and, as such, probe the evolution of structure into the continuum. The overall physics objectives of the EXPAND project are to undertake, using the unique opportunities offered by the recently commissioned RIBF facility at RIKEN (Saitama, Japan), the study of the structure and intrinsic correlations present in light neutron-rich nuclei lying at and beyond the neutron dripline and to search for exotic new phenomena, including resonance structures in multi-neutron systems such as the tetra-neutron. The choice of the RIBF as the venue for this work is a compelling one: high intensity primary beams (most notably 48Ca) coupled with the BigRIPS fragment separator allow for the production of the most intense secondary beams of light neutron dripline nuclei in the world – typically three or four orders of magnitude higher than any other facility. Moreover, in many cases, the RIBF is the only facility capable of producing these beams. In addition, the beam energies (~250 MeV/nucleon) are ideally matched, both experimentally and theoretically, to the reactions of interest – nucleon “knockout”, breakup and inelastic scattering. The investigations will be undertaken using kinematically complete measurements of the beam velocity reaction products – charged fragment and neutrons – arising from the in-flight decay of the system of interest. The detection of the charged fragment will be undertaken using the SAMURAI superconducting dipole and associated detectors. The present proposal focuses on developing the neutron detection and aims to provide us with a world class array to match the beams provided by the RIBF. Specifically it is planned to transform the existing neutron array (NEBULA) through the doubling of the number of scintillator walls – forming the “NEBULA-Plus” array – to enable 3 and 4 neutron detection capabilities, as well as augmenting dramatically the single and two-neutron detection efficiencies. As such, within the four year timeframe of the EXPAND project, 28O (Z=8, N=20), the only remaining unexplored doubly-magic nucleus yet to be observed will be investigated for the first time and its structure and multi-neutron correlations probed. In parallel, the “heavy” candidate two-neutron halo nuclei 29,31F and the associated unbound systems 28,30F will be explored. In addition, the search for multi-neutron correlations in the form of resonances in the 4n system will be pursued in combination with the study of the most neutron-asymmetric nucleus known, 7H and the four-neutron dissociation of 8He. These lines of research will continue well beyond the period of the grant whereby the investigation of heavier systems will be pursued. It is expected that a state-of-the-art physics programme with the NEBULA-Plus array will be maintained for at least 15 years. In summary, the EXPAND project will allow the highest intensity beams of light neutron dripline nuclei to be coupled with unique neutron detection capabilities, thus permitting the exploration of nuclear structure in the most exotic neutron-rich systems. The project will position us as leaders in the field for at least the next decade and provide an essential base, both technical and scientific, for extending these studies with the future European 3rd generation radioactive beam facility EURISOL.

Laterites are deep weathering covers of the critical zone that occupy 80% of the total soil-mantle volume of the Earth’s landscape and significantly participate to the global geochemical budget of weathering and erosion, and greenhouse gas consumption. Despite their factual importance on Earth surface, the timing of their formation and evolution in response to climatic and geodynamic forcing are still obscure. RECA project will address both the topics of "Functioning and evolution of climate, oceans and major cycles" and "Continental Surfaces: critical zone and biosphere" from ANR Axis 1 – Challenge 1., by reconstructing the influence of climate change laterites formation. The originality of the RECA project is to combine chronometric, weathering and climatic proxies developed in the recent years in order to build a comprehensive and predictive scenario of laterite formation and evolution. We will concentrate our effort on geodynamically stable Guyana Shield and Central Amazonia regions, where laterites formed through the whole Cenozoic and can be associated with major geomorphological units. This ambitious multidisciplinary project proposes, for the first time, to perform absolute dating of lateritic duricrusts associated to five episodes of planation in the South American subcontinent. We will date mineralogically well-identified populations of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides (hematite, goethite) and clays (kaolinites) by using (U-Th)/He, (U-Th)/Ne and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, respectively. These recent methods are appropriates because they can be applied to the most common secondary minerals found in laterites and span geological time scales. The inherent complexity of weathering materials, which may contain different populations of a same secondary mineral related to distinct stages of lateritization will be taken into account. The timing of duricrust formation will then be related to paleoclimatic conditions (temperature, rainfall) derived from a combination of geochemical or mineralogical indices and proxies: (i) at global scale, through, e.g., the known continental drainage curves; (ii) at a more regional scale through the intensity of weathering, the ratio hematite/goethite or O and H isotope systems of kaolinite and iron oxides and oxyhydroxides. A second task will associate non-conventional Li, Si and Fe isotopic methods that will help to decipher the evolution of weathering processes linked to the various stages of laterite formation. Coupling weathering budget and the ages of weathering profiles will yield average weathering and erosion rates, allowing comparison with other weathering environments or paleo-environments at the Earth surface. To tackle this ambitious task, the RECA project gathers an international consortium made of skilled researchers in the identification of lateritic soils, dating methods, environmental mineralogy; "traditional" and "non-traditional" stable isotope geochemistry, and modeling approaches of the formation of weathering profiles. The synergy of the identified teams offers the highest level of guarantee to lift off the identified scientific and technical barriers, giving access to yet hidden information on soil formation as a response to climate change through geological times.

The Heavy Photon Search (HPS) is a fixed target experiment planned to run intermittently in 2014-2015 at the Jefferson Laboratory (JLab), based in Virginia (USA). We will be using the high intensity electron accelerator facility available there to search for a new vector boson, called "heavy photon" in the mass range from 20 to 1000 MeV. The search for such a boson is motivated by the introduction of a new interaction, mediated by such gauge boson, which could help to solve several important puzzles of contemporary physics. For instance are concerned the (g-2)µ anomaly, the muonic hydrogen Lamb shift in atomic physics and the excess of electrons and positrons observed in cosmic ray data. Moreover, by coupling to dark matter, this force could also explain the discrepancies observed between the various direct dark matter searches (DAMA/LIBRA and CDMS for instance). This project seeks to produce the heavy photons by Bremsstrahlung-like emission of 2.2 and 6.6 GeV electrons sent on a high Z target. The heavy photon would decay into charged lepton pairs (mainly e+-e-) and give a twofold signature: a sharp peak in the invariant mass spectra of the e+-e- system above the QED (Quantum Electro-Dynamics) background and a secondary decay vertex distinct from the interaction point; the latter being possible when the coupling is weak enough to generate detectable life time effects. By removing most of the QED background, this latter method provides unparalleled sensitivity in the mass range 20-250 MeV making HPS unique among other experiments searching for a heavy photon. The HPS is also the occasion to discover true muonium (µ+-µ-) a predicted bound QED state that was never observed. The very compact structure of the true muonium makes this measurement an important precision test for QED calculations involving muons. The project is led in IPN Orsay by a group of young scientists, fitting particularly well with the objectives of the JCJC program. Indeed, with this project R. Dupré will take first responsibilities in a new and original field for the laboratory with the support of slightly more experienced colleagues. The HPS project also permits important interdisciplinary collaborations and raises multidisciplinary interests (atomic, nuclear, particle and astroparticle physics communities). Negative result for the search would also give important insight in these domains by reducing drastically the available phase space for the existence of a new gauge boson. Therefore, it will be an important constraint for the models including new forces in order to solve the physics problems highlighted previously. The HPS experiment has been approved by the JLab PAC (Program Advisory Committee) in 2012 with the highest rating, "A". In the very positive report the committee stated that "This experiment has the potential to make a revolutionary discovery if carried out in a timely manner". The IPN Orsay seeks the financial help of the ANR to take responsibility in the collaboration with a contribution to the electromagnetic calorimeter construction, an essential piece of equipment of the experiment. We request in this grant 257 kEuros to finance equipment on the calorimeter (for front end electronics and a monitoring system), a 2-year postdoc (for the development, construction and installation of the monitoring system) and travel money needed for this project. Although the experiment takes place in the US, because JLab is the only facility in the world offering the appropriate beam characteristics, the funding will be invested in France. The construction and assembly of the equipment as well as our part of the data analysis will be carried out in IPN Orsay.

The main goal of the HIBISCUS project is to develop a new ion source approach which will allows to produce intense beams of virtually any kind of nanomaterial or molecules/ions at close to ambient temperature, while solving the drawbacks of the LMIS and MiLICIS sources. The approach is based on the use of compounds, that dissolve and pre-dissociate the materials provide ions for the extracted and focused ion beam. This source will also be reversible (possibility to obtain positive or negative ions under similar operating conditions). Moreover the project focuses on applications for surface characterization. Hibiscus inherits the qualities of the sources from which it is derived: very high brightness, resulting in small beam diameters while keeping high primary ion current at low energy. The last advantage concerns the nanoparticle beams. The LMIS-emitted charged nanoparticles (NP) are distributed in both mass (m) and charge states (q), with many species having similar or identical m/q. Therefore, it is difficult to select a NP with a well-defined mass and charge. Our approach permits to solve this problem and simultaneously to reduce the beam spot size. The new ions source that we will develop will also open very interesting possibilities for nanomachining and ion implantation.

The aim of this project is the realization of a software framework dedicated to the study of the structure of hadrons in terms of their elementary constituents, quarks and gluons. This tool is critical for the achievement of a long-range program at the intersection of particle and nuclear physics involving hundreds of scientists worldwide. During the 1970’s, physicists worked out a successful formulation of the strong interaction, although this formulation is still mysterious in many respects. It is named Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD). According to this fundamental theory, strongly interacting particles (hadrons) are made up of quarks and gluons, collectively referred to as partons. Quarks and gluons are the degrees of freedom through which QCD is defined, but this theory describes all strongly interacting particles: hadrons and nuclei. A major question is thus to understand the emergence of the properties of hadrons (mass, spin, etc.) from the collective organization of partons. During the second half of the 1990’s, theorists exhibited the promising new theoretical concept of a Generalized Parton Distribution (GPD). For the first time in seventy years of study of the proton structure occurred the possibility of a three-dimensional representation of its internal structure as well as a possible path to the resolution of long-standing issues such as the origin of the proton spin. Theorists also proposed several different ways to access GPDs experimentally: GPDs indeed parameterize some observables of specific processes in a theoretically robust but very involved way. These findings demonstrated the feasibility of experimental tomography of hadrons. The first convincing experimental evidences (obtained in electromagnetic scattering on hydrogen targets) were collected in the early 2000’s and results of the first dedicated experiments were published in 2006 and 2007. However the completion of the GPD physics program requires very accurate measurements of a large number of different observables to allow a complete experimental determination of GPDs. This experimental work is expected to continue at least during the next 10 years at several international facilities, including (among others) the Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (Jefferson Lab, or JLab) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). These forthcoming years will be the time of unprecedented high precision measurements. GPD physics is also one key component of the physics case of a possible future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) at horizon 2025. Our project has been designed to fulfill the needs of the worldwide hadronic physics community. Its architecture consist of the following tools: • A comprehensive database of experimental results; • A comprehensive database of theoretical predictions; • A fast and efficient software to extract GPDs from measurements of different observables of several specific processes; • A robust strategy to propagate systematic and statistic uncertainties to the extracted GPDs, and to evaluate systematic uncertainties on GPD parametrizations; • A visualisation software to compare experimental results and model expectations; • An interface to connect the previous items to different experimental set-up descriptions to design new experiments; • An interactive web site providing a free access to model and experimental values of GPDs first to the whole hadronic physics community, and second to a broader audience (science popularization and illustrative examples of current research trends in high school and undergraduate teaching). First high precision measurements are expected by 2014 at CERN. At that time the first phase of the physics program of Jefferson Lab will be completed, and the second phase about to start. The release of the software components described here will be the suitable facility to take the next step to resume the physics program. It is expected to have a major phenomenological impact.