The H1 Data Preservation Project

TL;DR

The H1 Data Preservation Project aims to secure and maintain access to high-energy physics data and software from the HERA experiment, ensuring its usability for future research through virtualization and comprehensive documentation.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive data preservation system for the H1 experiment, including virtualization techniques and organizational changes for long-term data accessibility.

Findings

Successful implementation of virtualization for data access

Extended potential for future analysis of HERA data

Enhanced documentation and organizational structure

Abstract

The H1 data preservation project was started in 2009 as part of the global data preservation initiative in high-energy physics, DPHEP. In order to retain the full potential for future improvements, the H1 Collaboration aims for level 4 of the DPHEP recommendations, which requires the full simulation and reconstruction chain as well as the data to be preserved for future analysis. A major goal of the H1 project is therefore to provide secure, long-lived and validated access to the H1 data and analysis software, which is realised in collaboration with DESY-IT using virtualisation techniques. By implementing such a system, it is hoped that the lifetime of the unique ep collision data from HERA will be extended, providing the possibility for novel analysis in the future. The preservation of the data and software is performed alongside a consolidation programme of digital and non-digital documentation, some of which dates back to the early 1980s. A new organisational model of the H1 Collaboration, reflecting the change to the long term phase, is to be adopted in July 2012.