Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : SILEQS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Centre national de la recherche scientifique — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNRS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

Leveraging the success of the microelectronics and integrated photonics industries, silicon is one of the most promising platforms for developing large-scale quantum technologies. Quantum chips already available in silicon rely on either long-lived electrical qubits based on individual quantum dots or single donors, or on photonic qubits probabilistically generated by non-linear optical processes. Another type of quantum system could combine the advantages of both former qubits by featuring at the same time a stationary qubit with long coherence times and an optical interface adapted to long-distance exchange of quantum information. However, such a qubit that would be associated to optically-active spin defects is still to be demonstrated in silicon. This is the challenging objective of the current project.  The starting point of the SILEQS project is the recent discovery that silicon hosts many fluorescent point defects that can be optically isolated at single scale, and furthermore emit at the near-infrared range and telecom bands associated with minimal losses in optical fibers. This project aims to demonstrate for the first time in silicon (1) the indistinguishable single-photon emission from individual defects and (2) the control over their spin degrees of freedom to create multi-spin quantum registers coupled to single photons. Such achievements would open the door to developing silicon-integrated deterministic sources of photonic qubits and spin qubits interfaced with light for long-distance quantum communications in a platform adapted to large-scale nanofabrication and integration. Considering the advanced nanotechnology based on silicon, the SILEQS project could have significant impact in quantum technologies, including quantum integrated photonics, large-scale quantum networks and solid-state hybrid quantum systems.

Mots-clés : optically active point defects,spin qubits,silicon,quantum technologies,spin photon interface,long distance quantum communications
Projet ERC : RaConTeich (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Institut des hautes études scientifiques — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IHÉS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499938.0 €

Random conformal geometry deals with the analysis of conformally invariant systems using probabilistic methods. Random geometric objects, such as the random fractal SLE curves, arise from statistical mechanics models and are of central interest in modern probability theory and mathematical physics. Teichmüller theory as originally introduced studies complex structures on a surface. Teichmüller spaces carry a rich geometric structure and have been an important research topic since the mid-twentieth century. These two fields are traditionally far apart. However, via the introduction of the Loewner energy, the PI showed surprisingly that SLE is closely related to Weil-Petersson Teichmüller space and made the first contact between SLE theory and Teichmüller theory. Further developments exploring the link and recent progress in probabilistic Liouville conformal field theory also suggest that the connection between the two areas is stronger than currently known and we believe exploring the connection is of major scientific interest. The ambition of this project is to break new ground in establishing links between fundamental concepts in random conformal geometry and Teichmüller theory by combining in a pioneering way techniques from probability, complex analysis, geometric analysis, Kähler geometry, spectral theory, and representation theory. We focus on three objectives:  1. Advance the understanding of the deep reason behind the link between SLE and the Kähler geometry of Weil-Petersson universal Teichmüller space.  2. Establish the link between Liouville actions and projective structures in a systematic way.  3. Identify the holography of Loewner energy and explore the uncharted territory of holographic principles of random conformal geometry. The successful completion of this program will substantially reshape our understanding of both areas and has the potential to bring revolutionary development to them both.

Mots-clés : random conformal geometry,schramm loewner evolution,loewner energy,weil petersson metric,teichmuller theory,holography,liouville conformal field theory
Projet ERC : GravitaS (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : Institut des hautes études scientifiques — Pays : France — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : IHÉS
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498875.0 €

Recent insights into the gravitational S-matrix, which describes the scattering of gravitating particles, have lead to a breakthrough in the perturbative understanding of the two-body problem in General Relativity, with direct relevance to gravitational wave physics. Such advances have been enabled by the methods of scattering amplitudes and effective field theory, originally developed in the context of particle and collider physics. Despite recent progress, a formalism to extract the dynamics of inspiralling compact binaries from scattering amplitudes is still lacking, in order for the results of this program to be fully implemented in the analysis of gravitational wave data. Furthermore, the advent of space-based detectors will enable the observation of extreme-mass-ratio binary systems, and push gravitational wave astronomy into the strong-field regime not amenable to traditional perturbative methods.  We propose to address these challenges by breaking new ground and extending the reach of the gravitational S-matrix program by integrating insights from gravitational self-force theory, which solves the dynamics order-by-order in the mass ratio of the binary. We focus on three objectives: 1. Use the scattering of gravitational waves off a compact objects to extract universal predictions and extend the methods of scattering amplitudes beyond the weak-field regime. 2. Develop a new approach to predicting the scattering dynamics of extreme-mass-ratio binaries leveraging recent advances in scattering amplitudes and self-force theory. 3. Design a framework to translate observables from the scattering of binaries to the bound dynamics relevant for experiment, utilizing insights from effective field theory.  The successful completion of this program will fundamentally reshape our understanding of gravitational scattering and the dynamics of compact binary systems, and revolutionize our ability to make predictions for current and future gravitational wave observatories.

Mots-clés : scattering amplitudes,gravitational waves,effective field theory,gravitational self force,general relativity,collider physics,particle physics,cross sections,post newtonian theory,post minkowskian theory,black holes,neutron stars,compact objects,quantum field theory
Projet ERC : CARDIOTRIALS (Horizon Europe, appel 2021, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Products and Processes Engineering
Entité participante : Istituto nazionale di fisica nucleare — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : INFN
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499423.0 €

Clinical trials are a key tool for advancing medical knowledge, but they consist of a long and costly process entailing the recruitment of a representative cohort of participants to properly account for the population statistical variability. Computational engineering is a promising approach to gain more insight into patients' cardiac pathologies and to test innovative medical devices before running conclusive in-vivo experiments on animals or medical trials on humans. This technological breakthrough, however, is limited by some technical and epistemic challenges: (i) the reliability of cardiovascular computational models depends on the accurate solution of the hemodynamics coupled with the deforming biologic tissues; (ii) the resulting multi-physics solver requires an immense computational power and long time-to-results; (iii) a great variability among individuals exists, thus calling for a statistical approach. For the first time I will accomplish and employ a computational platform for determining the outcome of pathologies or devices implantation by combining my GPU-accelerated multi-physics solver for the accurate solution of cardiac dynamics with an uncertainty quantification analysis to account for the individuals variability. The input parameters of the computational model will be treated as aleatory variables, whose probability distribution function will be obtained using three-dimensional datasets of cardiac configurations available to the PI's group and acquired in-vivo by the clinical members involved in the project. Simulation campaigns (rather than a single simulation) will be then run in order to sweep the uncertain input distributions and obtain the synthetic population response in the case of selected pathologies like myocardial infarction and the optimal stimulation pattern for cardiac resynchronization therapy. My approach removes the main barrier that keeps up from a systematic use of computational engineering to run in-silico clinical trials.

Mots-clés : fluid mechanics,hemodynamics,fluid structure interaction,uncertainty quantification,translational engineering,in silico clinical trial
Projet ERC : MaTCh (Horizon Europe, appel 2023, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Istituto nazionale di fisica nucleare — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : INFN
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499004.0 €

Interacting bosons are unique quantum systems, whose low temperature phases exhibit fascinating quantum mechanics effects at a macroscopic scale. In the past two decades, the mathematical understanding of these systems improved tremendously. However, their behavior in the thermodynamic limit is still poorly understood, although this is the appropriate large scale limit to prove the emergence of scaling laws and universality, as well as to investigate the occurrence of phase transitions. MaTCh aims at investigating the low energy properties of interacting bosons in the thermodynamic limit, and at gaining a mathematical understanding of the emergence of correlated phases, in the form of Bose-Einstein condensation and quasi-long range order, as well as of their instabilities, due to thermal fluctuations or three-body recombination effects of Efimov type. Our plan is to exploit scaling limits as a framework to identify and overcome, one at a time, the mathematical obstructions that currently prevent us to control the system at finite density in the thermodynamic limit. In order to make progress on this program, MaTCh will introduce novel mathematical methods, inspired by renormalization group approaches and grounded in the second quantization techniques developed by the P.I. and collaborators, valid on an increasing sequence of scales.  Ultimately, the research led by MaTCh will lay the foundation for the rigorous description of several phenomena which are at the frontiers of present theoretical and experimental research, where collective excitations of quantum systems are described in terms of emergent Bose gases, such as in the BCS theory for superconductivity, the molecular description of strongly interacting Fermi gases, and the spin-wave theory for quantum magnetism.

Mots-clés : interacting bosons,bose einstein condensation,kosterlitz thouless transition,thermodynamic limit,scaling limits
Projet ERC : CoSI-Fold (Horizon Europe, appel 2024, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Systems and Communication Engineering
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499560.0 €

By leveraging a radically new digital sensing approach, the CoSI-Fold program strives to achieve a quantitative breakthrough in performance while unlocking qualitatively new and previously unthinkable applications.  The emerging field of computational sensing has opened up new horizons, such as the imaging of the Black Hole. However, mainstream digital sensing still relies on decades-old ideas from Claude Shannon's seminal 1948 paper, which laid the foundations of sampling theory and catalyzed the "Digital Revolution." Despite immense progress, capturing high-dynamic-range (HDR) signals at high digital resolution (HDRes) while maintaining low power consumption (LPC) remains a significant challenge. Implementing Shannon's method via analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) introduces fundamental bottlenecks, including quantization noise and saturation due to limited dynamic range (LDR). These limitations are conspicuously evident in cases like the 1986 Chernobyl Accident, where excessively HDR radiation went unrecorded due to LDR dosimeters, resulting in loss of lives. Bottlenecks in current digital pipelines clearly necessitate a paradigm shift.  The CoSI-Fold program capitalizes on an alternative methodology that simultaneously unlocks HDR and HDRes capabilities with LPC. CoSI-Fold harnesses a synergistic melding of novel hardware and mathematical algorithms, representing the core principle of computational sensing. The analog-domain folding of HDR inputs eliminates the well-known clipping problem while also reducing the quantization noise floor. Mathematically principled algorithms then computationally unfold the LDR folded samples.  The quantum leap brought by CoSI-Fold lies in the comprehensive convergence of theoretical, algorithmic, and hardware innovations it introduces. Our feasibility tests indicate the potential to revolutionize the fields of Audio and Acoustics, Biomedical and Healthcare Monitoring, and Computational Imaging, which are the focus of CoSI-Fold.

Mots-clés : computational sensing,sampling theory,harmonic analysis,inverse problems,unlimited sensing
Projet ERC : CloudNG (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Computer Science and Informatics
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499001.0 €

Datacenters are evolving fast allowing ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, and more programmability, while introducing new interconnects that radically change how we build distributed systems. Datacenters primarily host two types of workloads: cloud computing and bespoke applications. Cloud computing offers on-demand and elastic access to shared compute, networking, and storage resources, is ubiquitous and growing at an exponential pace. Bespoke datacenter applications, such as websearch, are special-purpose services developed and deployed by tech companies. There is a dichotomy between those two types of workloads regarding the evolution of the datacenter software and hardware ecosystem, with bespoke applications fully adopting recent advancements, while cloud computing only evolving incrementally and failing to absorb new hardware and protocols. This is due to fundamental differences between the two settings, and design choices in the existing cloud architecture and the way it has evolved, which end up harming efficiency, reducing the performance and quality of service cloud tenants receive, and slowing down cloud evolution.  CLOUDNG designs the next generation of cloud infrastructure to fully leverage the modern datacenter. It accelerates and introduces novel abstractions that encapsulate emerging hardware and protocols without exposing their internals, and offers quality of service equivalent to bespoke applications without compromising ease of use. It re-envisions the cloud architecture and proposes new ways to implement resource allocation and elasticity by specifically designing for the datacenter environment, thus enabling superior performance, performance predictability, new cloud products, and measurable sustainability through appropriate metrics and incentives, while preparing the cloud for a new hardware era.  This is an ambitious project pushing the state of the art in cloud and datacenter research, yet, a necessary step towards future cloud innovation.

Mots-clés : cloud computing,datacenters
Projet ERC : MORPHON (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed Matter Physics
Entité participante : Imperial College London — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : ICL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1676425.0 €

The growing demand for AI computing power is critically unsustainable with current energy-hungry computational hardware. Neuromorphic computing, leveraging complex dynamics of physical systems to perform AI, has emerged as a hugely promising approach to tackling this issue. However, existing neuromorphic schemes employ a single physical system, and fall short when computational tasks are not well-matched to the specific system dynamics. For the field to progress and provide real answers to global AI energy consumption, there is urgent need for innovative solutions capable of high efficiency and versatility across diverse tasks.  In MORPHON, I propose a new paradigm: a ‘hybrid' neuromorphic approach that leverages the complementary strengths of multiple physical systems, delivering a new class of energy-efficient, task-adaptive neuromorphic AI hardware. I will show that photonic semiconductor networks which host many nonlinearly-coupled lasing modes can be sensitively controlled by optically-switched nanomagnetic arrays, with strong preliminary data confirming the promise & feasibility of my approach. Leveraging my deep expertise in nanomagnetism, photonics & neuromorphic physics, I will demonstrate that hybrid magneto-photonic networks hold the key to unprecedented neuromorphic performance: vastly-reconfigurable magnetic arrays provide memory and task-adaptivity, and photonic lasing dynamics grant exemplary nonlinear vision processing.  My hybrid systems will perform a wide range of bio-inspired AI tasks, including challenging image classification & medical diagnosis, and neuromorphic video processing - a key unmet need in the field. MORPHON will ignite the next-generation of neuromorphic AI hardware, unlocking the potential of hybrid systems that far exceed the capabilities of each system alone. This project will radically advance physical neuromorphic computing while addressing the crucial global need for sustainable AI.

Mots-clés : nanomagnetism,magneto optics,neuromorphic computing,random lasing
Projet ERC : MaFC (Horizon Europe, appel 2025, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Mathematics
Entité participante : Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : HGF
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499601.0 €

The study of smooth fibre bundles of compact high-dimensional manifolds connects several areas of mathematics such as algebraic and geometric topology, differential geometry, and number theory. From the perspective of homotopy theory, it amounts to the study of the homotopy type of the moduli space of manifolds. The two projects this proposal investigate this and related moduli spaces in using techniques from homotopy theory, especially different flavours of functor calculus.  Classically, the moduli space of manifolds was related to homotopy-theoretic objects by considering a forgetful map to a moduli space of homotopy types and analysing the difference. Recent work of Kupers and I considered a moduli space of more refined homotopy-theoretic objects---which does not only remember the underlying homotopy type of a manifold, but also of all its configuration spaces---and showed that this homotopy theoretic moduli space is likely to be very close to the moduli space of manifolds. The first project in this proposal systematically studies these two moduli spaces and their difference, which will lead to deep new results both on the manifold as well as the homotopy-theoretic side. As an example, one of the objectives is to show that the passage from manifolds to the homotopy-theoretic objects is closely related to the cyclotomic trace from algebraic K-theory to topological cyclic homology.  The second project develops a new approach to the relation between the moduli space of manifolds and algebraic K- and L-Theory using methods from parametrised surgery theory, homotopy calculus, and Grothendieck--Witt theory. In addition to providing simultaneously a new proof of the pseudoisotopy-stability theorem and the stable parametrised h-cobordism theorem, this approach has the potential to go far beyond what was known from the traditional approach and in particular answer long-standing questions on the pseudoisotopy stable range.
Projet ERC : SoftMeter (Horizon Europe, appel 2022, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental Constituents of Matter
Entité participante : DESY — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1498750.0 €

The real-time interrogation of molecular electronics at the interface between different media is key to understanding the fundamental mechanisms at the basis of processes such as catalysis, solar energy harvesting, and charge transport in optoelectronic devices. Such an investigation ultimately requires attosecond temporal resolution and picometer spatial accuracy, to capture in real-time the energy exchanges mediated by the electron wave function and the competing structural changes of the target. Experimental strong-field-laser physics has been demonstrated to provide outstanding spectroscopical methods for this purpose, such as high-harmonic generation spectroscopy, attosecond science, and laser-induced electron diffraction. However, it also presents intrinsic limitations such as high peak intensities, low efficiency, and poor tunability. These obstacles have so far hindered its application to the study of high-complexity systems, for example complex interfaces. SoftMeter aims at filling this gap. We are proposing a novel multi-messenger two-color spectroscopy, namely soft-field spectroscopy, that converts the concepts of strong-field physics into the moderate or weak field regime and overcomes its limitations, while still providing an unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. The new protocol will be developed in the first phase of the project: It is based on an interferometric setup combining few-fs ultraviolet pulses with few-cycle IR pulses, and on the multi-messenger measurement of the laser-induced electron diffraction and the high-harmonic radiation of the target. In the second phase of the project, the novel soft-field scheme will be employed for the real-time interrogation of electronics at molecular interfaces. SoftMeter will pave the way for a new class of ultrafast laser spectroscopy experiments, with a large impact on several disciplines, ranging from photo-chemistry to biology, as well as from energetics to environmental science.

Mots-clés : molecular electronics photo induced dynamics at interfaces