Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-erc-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ERC : TERASEC (Horizon 2020, appel 2019, Proof of concept grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : National Research Council — Pays : Italie — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CNR
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 150000.0 €

The objectives of TERASEC project entail the activities aimed at pre-commercial validation of the technological performances and market potential of a novel device for the detection of security threats, such as weapons, explosives, drugs etc.. The functionality of TERASEC is enabled through combination of superconducting and ferromagnetic materials that delivers frequency selective THz sensors showing unprecedented sensitivity (single-photon resolution), fast response time, high dynamic range, and low noise-equivalent-power. Specifically, starting from the outstanding outcomes reached so far, the capacity of the TERASEC system to detect the above threats with given level of accuracy, range and selectivity will be verified in accordance with the requirements of prospect users (to be collected during the project implementation). Moreover, a detailed market, IPR and regulatory compliance study will be carried out, in order to enable smooth implementation of TERASEC in the complicated context of the public security market. To enhance this, an advisory board gathering Key Opinion Leaders of the sector will be secured and involved into project activity throughout all the project duration. In parallel, comprehensive communication strategy addressing all the stakeholders of the relevant value chain will be rolled out, with strong focus on prospect consumers and users, so to ensuring market traction. Overall, the goal of TERASEC is to deliver an unrivalled novel security scanner device leveraging harmless THz waves, that widely overpasses the accuracy performances of all the conventional systems, thus contributing to the safety of European citizens and the security of sensitive infrastructures.

Mots-clés : radiation sensing,single photon detection,superconductivity,ferromagnetism,low temperatures,thermoelectricity,thz waves,security scanning systems,thz sensors,detection of security threats
Projet ERC : TERIFIC (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : UK Research and Innovation — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Acronyme de l'entité : UKRI
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 117760.91 €

The ocean Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) is responsible for poleward heat transport, and deep storage of heat and carbon. Climate models generally predict that a slowdown of the MOC will occur this century, with dramatic regional and global climate changes, but how the slowdown will occur is subject to debate. It is widely recognised that convection -- the downward limb of the MOC -- is sensitive to freshwater fluxes, and recent investigations have suggested that the increased melt from the Greenland Ice Sheet has already reduced convection. Yet in 2015, convection returned, and was anomalously strong. Despite the expectation that the MOC is sensitive to freshwater forcing, we do not understand the processes by which freshwater inputs influence the MOC. The two key gaps in our understanding are: how freshwater reaches the regions of deep convection, and the relative importance of freshwater to convection and restratification. Numerical simulations give conflicting results on freshwater pathways, and convective parameterisations neglect small-scale restratifying processes. Traditional observational approaches cannot capture the spatial and temporal variability of these processes without inordinate cost. TERIFIC addresses these gaps in understanding through new observations, leveraging recent advances in small-scale electronics to deploy large numbers of mini-drifters on the shelves of Greenland, and employing subsurface and surface autonomous platforms to characterise the balance of processes controlling convection and restratification. The analysis of these observations will answer fundamental questions about how freshwater reaches and affects the regions of deep convection, and enable a critical ground truth of numerical simulations of these processes for climate models.

Mots-clés : deep convection,meridional overturning circulation,freshwater fluxes,greenland ice sheet,autonomous underwater vehicles,ocean surface drifters
Projet ERC : ATOM (Horizon 2020, appel 2016, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Condensed matter physics
Entité participante : Leibniz Association — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : LG
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1499602.0 €

The ongoing miniaturization in nanotechnology and functional materials puts an ever increasing focus on the development of three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures, such as quantum dot arrays, structured nanowires, or non-trivial topological magnetic textures such as skyrmions, which permit a better performance of logical or memory devices in terms of speed and energy efficiency. To develop and advance such technologies and to improve the understanding of the underlying fundamental solid state physics effects, the nondestructive and quantitative 3D characterization of physical, e.g., electric or magnetic, fields down to atomic resolution is indispensable. Current nanoscale metrology methods only inadequately convey this information, e.g., because they probe surfaces, record projections, or lack resolution. AToM will provide a ground-breaking tomographic methodology for current nanotechnology by mapping electric and magnetic fields as well as crucial properties of the underlying atomic structure in solids, such as the chemical composition, mechanical strain or spin configuration in 3D down to atomic resolution. To achieve that goal, advanced holographic and tomographic setups in the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) are combined with novel computational methods, e.g., taking into account the ramifications of electron diffraction. Moreover, fundamental application limits are overcome (A) by extending the holographic principle, requiring coherent electron beams, to quantum state reconstructions applicable to electrons of any (in)coherence; and (B) by adapting a unique in-situ TEM with a very large sample chamber to facilitate holographic field sensing down to very low temperatures (6 K) under application of external, e.g., electric, stimuli. The joint development of AToM in response to current problems of nanotechnology, including the previously mentioned ones, is anticipated to immediately and sustainably advance nanotechnology in its various aspects.

Mots-clés : electron holography,electron tomography,quantum state tomography
Projet ERC : ARCHEIS (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
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 : 1361991.0 €

The onset of the systematic consumption of marine resources is thought to mark a turning point for the hominin lineage. To date, this onset cannot be traced, since classic isotope markers are not preserved beyond 50 - 100 ky. Aquatic food products are essential in human nutrition as the main source of polyunsaturated fatty acids in hunter-gatherer diets. The exploitation of marine resources is also thought to have reduced human mobility and enhanced social and technological complexification. Systematic aquatic food consumption could well have been a distinctive feature of Homo sapiens species among his fellow hominins, and has been linked to the astonishing leap in human intelligence and conscience. Yet, this hypothesis is challenged by the existence of mollusk and marine mammal bone remains at Neanderthal archeological sites. Recent work demonstrated the sensitivity of Zn isotope composition in bioapatite, the mineral part of bones and teeth, to dietary Zn. By combining classic (C and C/N isotope analyses) and innovative techniques (compound specific C/N and bulk Zn isotope analyses), I will develop a suite of sensitive tracers for shellfish, fish and marine mammal consumption. Shellfish consumption will be investigated by comparing various South American and European prehistoric populations from the Atlantic coast associated to shell-midden and fish-mounds. Marine mammal consumption will be traced using an Inuit population of Arctic Canada and the Wairau Bar population of New Zealand. C/N/Zn isotope compositions of various aquatic products will also be assessed, as well as isotope fractionation during intestinal absorption. I will then use the fully calibrated isotope tools to detect and characterize the onset of marine food exploitation in human history, which will answer the question of its specificity to our species. Neanderthal, early modern humans and possibly other hominin remains from coastal and inland sites will be compared in that purpose.

Mots-clés : zinc isotopes,human diets,paleolithic,nontraditional stable isotopes
Projet ERC : ComplexSex (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Life Science
Panel : Environmental Biology, Ecology and Evolution
Entité participante : Lund University — Pays : Suède — Rôle : PI
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1492011.0 €

The origin and evolution of sexual reproduction and sex differences represents one of the major unsolved problems in evolutionary biology, and although much progress had been made both via theory and empirical research, recent data suggest that sex chromosome evolution may be more complex than previously thought. The concept of sexual antagonism (when there is a positive intersexual genetic correlation in trait expression but opposite fitness effects of the trait(s) in males and females) has become essential to our understanding of sex chromosome evolution. The goal of this proposal is to understand how the interacting effects of sexual antagonism, sex-linked genetic variation, and sex-specific selection shape the genetic architecture of complex traits. I will test the hypotheses that: 1) individual sexually antagonistic loci are common in the genome, both in separate-sexed species and in hermaphrodites, and drive patterns of sexual antagonism often seen on the trait level. 2) That the response to sex-specific selection in sex-linked loci is usually due to standing sexually antagonistic genetic variation. 3) That sexually antagonistic variation is primarily non-additive in nature. To accomplish this, I will use a combination of approaches, including sex-limited experimental evolution of the X chromosome and reciprocal sex chromosome introgression among distantly related populations of Drosophila, quantitative genetic analysis and experimental evolution mimicking the creation of a novel sex chromosome in the hermaphroditic flatworm Macrostomum, and analytical and simulation modeling. This project will serve to confirm or refute the assumption that trait-level sexual antagonism reflects the contributions of many individual sexually antagonistic loci, increase our understanding of the contribution of coevolution of the sex chromosomes to population divergence, and help provide us with a better general understanding of how genotype maps to phenotype.

Mots-clés : sexual dimorphism,sex chromosomes
Projet ERC : LOFAR (Horizon 2020, appel 2014, Starting grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Universe sciences
Entité participante : Vrije Universiteit Brussel — Pays : Belgique — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : VUB
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1500000.0 €

The origin of cosmic rays remains one of the largest mysteries in astrophysics. Innovative and accurate radio measurements of cosmic rays and neutrinos with LOFAR promise to provide new answers. It is generally believed that ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are produced in extragalactic sources like gamma- ray bursts or active galactic nuclei, while the lower energy cosmic rays come from our own Galaxy. At what energy this transition takes place is still unknown. Here we focus on disentangling Galactic and extragalactic components by studying the mass composition between 10^17 and 10^18 eV, a regime that is also crucial for understanding the origin of the extraterrestrial neutrinos detected by IceCube. We do this with LOFAR, the first radio telescope that can detect individual cosmic rays with hundreds of antennas. This incredible level of detail allowed us to finally understand the complicated radiation mechanism and to perform the first-ever accurate mass analysis based on radio measurements. Our first data reveal a strong proton component below 10^18 eV, suggesting an early transition to an extragalactic component. With upgrades to our detector and techniques we will be able to improve our sample size by an order of magnitude, resolve more mass components, and identify the origin of high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. The technique may be scaled up to higher energies, measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory, where mass information is needed to correlate cosmic rays with their astrophysical sources and to confirm the nature of the cutoff at ~10^19.6 eV. We can even search for particles beyond the GZK limit. With the Westerbork telescope we have already set the best limit on cosmic rays and neutrinos above 10^23 eV. With LOFAR we will achieve a much better sensitivity at lower energies, also probing for new physics, like the decays of cosmic strings predicted by supersymmetric theories.

Mots-clés : radio detection of cosmic rays and neutrinos
Projet ERC : HYMNS (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Fundamental constituents of matter
Entité participante : Spanish National Research Council — Pays : Espagne — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : CSIC
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1886558.0 €

The origin of the heavy elements in the Universe is one of the main open questions in modern science. Beyond iron the two main mechanisms of nucleosynthesis are the slow (s) and rapid (r) neutron capture processes operating in giant stars and explosive stellar environments, respectively. Modern s-nucleosynthesis studies are based on the combination of i) stellar models, ii) observed abundances and iii) neutron capture rates measured over many years using several techniques. HYMNS is aimed at a paradigm shift in the sensitivity of s-process neutron capture measurements; The most advanced and accurate methods allow one to measure the neutron capture rate as a function of the neutron energy by combining the time-of-flight technique with radiation detectors, either calorimeters or total energy detectors. These systems are sensitive only to the radiation energy, which ultimately limits the attainable detection sensitivity. State-of-the-art detection systems require drastic innovation if we are to access the stellar (n,g) rates of several key radioactive nuclei, where only small amounts of sample material are available. Such unstable nuclides are of pivotal importance for nucleosynthesis studies because they act as branching points in the s-path and are thus extremely sensitive to the stellar physical conditions. The aim of HYMNS is to develop and apply a novel detection system in the field of (n,g) measurements called total-energy detector with imaging capability (i-TED), which is capable of measuring both the energy and the trajectory of the g-rays, thus enabling a superior level of background discrimination. HYMNS is structured to enable the first measurements for key s-process branching nuclei over the stellar energy range. The first application will be to determine the neutron capture cross section of 79Se, which will provide the most stringent constraint for the thermal conditions and their time-dependence in state-of-the-art evolution models of massive stars.
Projet ERC : INDUCE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen — Pays : Allemagne — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Recherche
Financement ERC de l'entité : 0.0 €

The origins, adoption and use of pottery vessels are among archaeology’s most compelling issues. Pottery vessels are no longer viewed in western archaeology as a material correlate of sedentary farming life in the Neolithic. Despite recognition of pottery vessels in hunter-gatherer contexts in some parts of northern Europe and the former Soviet Union, their impact on, and role in, hunter-gatherer lifeways has been regarded as peripheral to mainstream European prehistory. This proposal seeks to rebalance the evidence and the debate, placing the innovation, dispersal and use of pottery vessels among hunter-gatherers in NE Europe at the heart of the enquiry. Virtually nothing is known of the choices underlying the adoption of pottery vessels or the uses to which they were put. Similarly, there is little understanding of the environmental contexts that led to the emergence of pottery or the timing and dynamics of its apparent westward dispersal across NE Europe, nor its legacy following the introduction of food production. Addressing these lacunae is the motivation for this proposal. INDUCE will tackle these important challenges with an integrated approach to reconstructing the contextual life histories of over 2000 pottery vessels, enhancing chronological control of early pottery horizons through 600 14C dates, investigating the typology of several thousand vessels from across the study region, creating spatio-temporal models for the spread of different pottery traditions and documenting the impact of the introduction of farming on the use of vessels for resource utilisation. This new understanding of pottery manufacture, dispersal and use across NE Europe will inspire a fundamental re-evaluation of later hunter-gatherer prehistory and culminate in an alternative narrative for the ‘Neolithisation’ of Europe.

Mots-clés : hunter gatherers,pottery vessels,organic residues
Projet ERC : INDUCE (Horizon 2020, appel 2015, Advanced grants)
Domaine scientifique : Social Sciences and Humanities
Panel : The study of the human past
Entité participante : University of York — Pays : Royaume-Uni — Rôle : Partner
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1388930.44 €

The origins, adoption and use of pottery vessels are among archaeology’s most compelling issues. Pottery vessels are no longer viewed in western archaeology as a material correlate of sedentary farming life in the Neolithic. Despite recognition of pottery vessels in hunter-gatherer contexts in some parts of northern Europe and the former Soviet Union, their impact on, and role in, hunter-gatherer lifeways has been regarded as peripheral to mainstream European prehistory. This proposal seeks to rebalance the evidence and the debate, placing the innovation, dispersal and use of pottery vessels among hunter-gatherers in NE Europe at the heart of the enquiry. Virtually nothing is known of the choices underlying the adoption of pottery vessels or the uses to which they were put. Similarly, there is little understanding of the environmental contexts that led to the emergence of pottery or the timing and dynamics of its apparent westward dispersal across NE Europe, nor its legacy following the introduction of food production. Addressing these lacunae is the motivation for this proposal. INDUCE will tackle these important challenges with an integrated approach to reconstructing the contextual life histories of over 2000 pottery vessels, enhancing chronological control of early pottery horizons through 600 14C dates, investigating the typology of several thousand vessels from across the study region, creating spatio-temporal models for the spread of different pottery traditions and documenting the impact of the introduction of farming on the use of vessels for resource utilisation. This new understanding of pottery manufacture, dispersal and use across NE Europe will inspire a fundamental re-evaluation of later hunter-gatherer prehistory and culminate in an alternative narrative for the ‘Neolithisation’ of Europe.

Mots-clés : hunter gatherers,pottery vessels,organic residues
Projet ERC : SCrIPT (Horizon 2020, appel 2018, Consolidator grants)
Domaine scientifique : Physical Sciences and Engineering
Panel : Earth system science
Entité participante : University of Lausanne — Pays : Suisse — Rôle : PI
Acronyme de l'entité : UNIL
Type d'entité : Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire
Financement ERC de l'entité : 1077106.25 €

The overall concept of this proposal is to investigate the main biogeochemical processes modulating spatial and temporal changes in marine export productivity, and assess their role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, both under present conditions and in the geological past. The exchange of CO2 between the atmosphere and ocean interior mediated by the oceanic ecosystem is a pivotal mechanism modulating the global carbon cycle, and thus, a substantial driver of the Earth’s climatic evolution. The overarching objective of this research proposal is to develop a novel proxy to trace changes in the global strength of the marine biological carbon pump (BCP) based on stable Chromium (Cr) isotopes. Despite its significance for the global carbon cycle, the BCP is still poorly constrained. This project will explore a tracer that has recently been developed to investigate the rise of atmospheric oxygen in the early history of the Earth and develop it thoroughly through a comprehensive, multidisciplinary calibration program and apply it to the much more subtle redox variations associated with organic matter remineralization in the ocean. The proposed approach includes phytoplankton culture experiments, water-column investigations and sedimentary analysis and will aim at elucidating the mechanisms governing the reduction of Cr and its associated isotopic fractionation. The proxy will subsequently be used to reconstruct export production variability in the past and assess its role in modulating glacial/interglacial climate oscillations. These past changes tended to be much slower than the current, anthropogenic change. Nonetheless, they can help to appraise sensitivities and point toward potentially dominant mechanisms of change. The observations gathered within the framework of this research program will enable refining the evolution of the marine carbon cycle and the rapidly declining buffering capacity of the ocean.