Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Cosmological Physics with future large-scale structure surveys (PHYS.LSS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2015-10-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1395000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1395000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Future, large galaxy surveys (such as BOSS, DES, LSST, EUCLID, ADEPT etc.) will cover of the order of 10000 square degrees on the sky, with the primary science goal to unravel the nature of the physics responsible for the current accelerated expansion of the universe. This acceleration likely involves new physics which could imply ether a modification of our understanding of particles and fields (if the acceleration is caused by a new negative pressure-component) or a change in our understanding of space and time (by modifying Einstein&apos;s General Relativity laws). The unprecedented and exquisite data provided by these surveys will make possible also other interesting science with implications for fundamental physics (e.g., inflation, neutrino properties) and astrophysics (e.g., biasing, galaxy formation). The success of future large-scale galaxy surveys evidently requires a correct interpretation of their data. The current proposal, which benefits from the interaction of Cosmology, astrophysics and particle physics, aims at building up a set of robust tools to maximize the physics extracted from large-scale structure data. Such an interplay is mandatory to ensure a suitable modeling of the observables and a meaningful comparison with the theoretical predictions. The PI is involved with surveys such as BOSS, ADEPT and LSST and for the past year has been leading a working group with the goal of bringing together particle physicists and cosmology to better understand dark energy. The methods developed in the proposal presented here are expected to be used by the international community involved in future surveys. This would imply a big step for Spanish groups joining or even leading future Cosmology or Astro-particle physics projects.

Keywords: interaction between cosmology astrophysics and particle physics
X-ray phase-contrast imaging for biomedical applications (X-RAY-BIOIMAGING)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1994000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1994000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In conventional x-ray imaging, contrast is obtained through the differences in the absorption cross-section of the constituents of the object. The technique yields excellent results where highly absorbing structures such as bones are embedded in a matrix of relatively weakly absorbing material, for example the surrounding tissue of the human body. However, in cases where different forms of tissue with similar absorption cross-sections are under investigation (for example, in mammography or neurology), the x-ray absorption contrast is relatively poor. Consequently, differentiating pathologic from non-pathologic tissue in an absorption radiograph obtained with a current hospital-based x-ray system remains practically impossible for certain tissue compositions. The goal of this research project is to overcome these limitations by developing and applying the potential of x-ray phase-contrast imaging for pre-clinical, biomedical x-ray imaging applications. The anticipated results of this project shall provide the scientific basis for future routine exploitation of biomedical x-ray phase contrast imaging through academic research and biomedical imaging device manufacturers. While I envision that the method will ultimately be applicable and beneficiary for several x-ray medical diagnostics applications (i.e., including computer tomography on humans), this project will focus on the first successful implementation of x-ray phase-contrast bioimaging for pre-clinical, small-animal applications.

Keywords: x-ray imaging,tomography,biomedical imaging,phase imaging,x-ray biophysics
Three-Dimensional Surface Nano-Patterning: Concepts, Challenges and Applications (THREEDSURFACE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Germany,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2015-06-30
Duration (months): 70.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1398600.0
EU funding (EUR): 1398600.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Multifunctional surface nano-patterns on substrates are the foundation of semiconductor nano-devices. There is a major shortcoming of the existing surface nano-patterning techniques - in fact almost all synthesized surface patterns are two-dimensional (2-D) planar structures with low aspect ratio. Thus one of the most attractive advantages of nanomaterials, an extremely large surface area, is missing in the existing 2-D surface nano-patterns. This largely limits the application potential of surface nanostructures on semiconductor devices. In this project, a new concept of three-dimensional (3-D) nano-patterning is proposed. Using this multi-functional 3-D surface nano-patterning technique, large-scale surface patterns of well-defined one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructures can be synthesized by different fabrication strategies. The realization of the 3-D surface nano-patterning will not only retain the attractive features of the conventional 2-D surface nano-patterning (e.g. high patterning density), but also bring back one of the basic advantages of nanomaterials, i.e. an extremely large surface area. Using an innovative addressing system proposed in this project, it is possible to investigate and analyze the properties of an individual unit within a regular surface nanostructure array and the coupling interaction between the adjacent units. By integrating these data, the properties of the whole ensembles could be obtained. This bottom-up investigation might pave the way to a complete property tuning based on the structural design of surface 1-D nanostructures. The large-scale 1-D surface nano-patterns with well-defined structures have broad application potentials for different high-performance and property-controllable nano-devices.

Keywords: surface nano-patterning and nanostructuring
Convex Optimization Methods for Computer Vision and Image Analysis (CONVEXVISION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Computer science and informatics
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1985400.0
EU funding (EUR): 1985400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Optimization methods have become an established paradigm to address most Computer Vision challenges including the reconstruction of three-dimensional objects from multiple images, or the tracking of a deformable shape over time. Yet, it has been largely overlooked that optimization approaches are practically useless if they do not come with efficient algorithms to compute minimizers of respective energies. Most existing formulations give rise to non-convex energies. As a consequence, solutions highly depend on the choice of minimization scheme and implementational (initialization, time step sizes, etc.), with little or no guarantees regarding the quality of computed solutions and their robustness to perturbations of the input data. In the proposed research project, we plan to develop optimization methods for Computer Vision which allow to efficiently compute globally optimal solutions. Preliminary results indicate that this will drastically leverage the power of optimization methods and their applicability in a substantially broader context. Specifically we will focus on three lines of research: 1) We will develop convex formulations for a variety of challenges. While convex formulations are currently being developed for low-level problems such as image segmentation, our main effort will focus on carrying convex optimization to higher level problems of image understanding and scene interpretation. 2) We will investigate alternative strategies of global optimization by means of discrete graph theoretic methods. We will characterize advantages and drawbacks of continuous and discrete methods and thereby develop novel algorithms combining the advantages of both approaches. 3) We will go beyond convex formulations, developing relaxation schemes that compute near-optimal solutions for problems that cannot be expressed by convex functionals.

Keywords: computer vision,global optimization,convex relaxation
Growth and Shaping of Soft Tissue (SOFTGROWTH)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: ERC Starting Grant Interdisciplinary Panel
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1000000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Many natural structures are made of soft tissue that undergoes complicated continuous shape transformations that accurately and reliably serve specific elaborate tasks. Such processes can be slow, as in growth of a tissue, leading from an initial, featureless, shape to the desired elaborate structure of the adult organ. In other cases continuous shape transformations of soft tissue are rapid and are used for the production of mechanical work, as in the case of the action of the hart. Our understanding of natural growth is limited and our ability to produce controlled motions of soft tissue is poor. A central problem in both cases is how to incorporate all local changes in the tissue in order to determine the mechanical state of the entire body. In addition, there are problems regarding how to measure a deforming body and how to characterize the deformation. Finally, there is a problem of how to control motion and growth in artificial and natural soft tissues. I propose a multi disciplinary study, based on an approach I have started developing. According to it there is an underlying common mathematical way to describe continuous large shape transformations of stretchable tissues. This approach clearly defines the way to determine the mechanical state of a deformed tissue and to measure its local growth/deformation. The project will involve a theoretical study within mechanics and differential geometry, an experimental-physics work, which will be focused on the construction of responsive deformable tissue elements and measurements of their shape evolution, and a biophysical work, in which the natural growth and motion of leaves will be measured and will be correlated with biological activities. Such an integrative study has the potential of advancing our understanding of the fascinating process of growth and to improve our ability to construct bio-inspired &quot;soft machinery&quot;.

Keywords: shape-transformation,growth
Exploring hybrid quantum systems of ultracold atoms and ions (ATOMION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Germany,United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1405000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1405000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

We propose to investigate hybrid quantum systems composed of ultracold atoms and ions. The mutual interaction of the cold neutral atoms and the trapped ion offers a wealth of interesting new physical problems. They span from ultracold quantum chemistry over new concepts for quantum information processing to genuine quantum many-body physics. We plan to explore aspects of quantum chemistry with ultracold atoms and ions to obtain a full understanding of the interactions in this hybrid system. We will investigate the regime of low energy collisions and search for Feshbach resonances to tune the interaction strength between atoms and ions. Moreover, we will study collective effects in chemical reactions between a Bose-Einstein condensate and a single ion. Taking advantage of the extraordinary properties of the atom-ion mixture quantum information processing with hybrid systems will be performed. In particular, we plan to realize sympathetic ground state cooling of the ion with a Bose-Einstein condensate. When the ion is immersed into the ultracold neutral atom environment the nature of the decoherence will be tailored by tuning properties of the environment: A dissipative quantum phase transition is predicted when the ion is coupled to a one-dimensional Bose gas. Moreover, we plan to realize a scalable hybrid quantum processor composed of a single ion and an array of neutral atoms in an optical lattice. The third direction we will pursue is related to impurity effects in quantum many-body physics. We plan to study transport through a single impurity or atomic quantum dot with the goal of realizing a single atom transistor. A single atom transistor transfers the quantum state of the impurity coherently to a macroscopic neutral atom current. Finally, we plan to observe Anderson s orthogonality catastrophe in which the presence of a single impurity in a quantum gas orthogonalizes the quantum many-body function of a quantum state with respect to the unperturbed one.

Keywords: ultracold atoms,bose-einstein condensation,quantum information processing,ultracold chemistry,optical lattices
Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws: singular limits, properties of solutions and control problems (CONLAWS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Italy,Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 422000.0
EU funding (EUR): 422000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The research program concerns various theoretic aspects of hyperbolic conservation laws. In first place we plan to study the existence and uniqueness of solutions to systems of equations of mathematical physics with physic viscosity. This is one of the main open problems within the theory of conservation laws in one space dimension, which cannot be tackled relying on the techniques developed in the case where the viscosity matrix is the identity. Furthermore, this represents a first step toward the analysis of more complex relaxation and kinetic models with a finite number of velocities as for Broadwell equation, or with a continuous distribution of velocities as for Boltzmann equation. A second research topic concerns the study of conservation laws with large data. Even in this case the basic model is provided by fluidodynamic equations. We wish to extend the results of existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence of solutions to the case of large (in BV or in L^infty) data, at least for the simplest systems of mathematical physics such as the isentropic gas dynamics. A third research topic that we wish to pursue concerns the analysis of fine properties of solutions to conservation laws. Many of such properties depend on the existence of one or more entropies of the system. In particular, we have in mind to study the regularity and the concentration of the dissipativity measure for an entropic solution of a system of conservation laws. Finally, we wish to continue the study of hyperbolic equations from the control theory point of view along two directions: (i) the analysis of controllability and asymptotic stabilizability properties; (ii) the study of optimal control problems related to hyperbolic systems.

Keywords: hyperbolic systems,conservation laws,singular perturbations,weak solutions,regularity properties of solutions
Serial Optical Communications for Advanced Terabit Ethernet Systems (SOCRATES)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: Denmark
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1518387.0
EU funding (EUR): 1518387.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The last two decades has seen an explosion in telecommunication bandwidth, a trend which has never ceased. Another current trend is the growing concern for the environmental footprint humankind is leaving due to various industries. The Internet traffic grows roughly by 60% per year, and internet servers today consume about 2% of the total global electric power consumption corresponding to a CO2 emission approaching 1% of the total emission caused by human beings. These trends have made it very clear that it is imperative to develop new technologies that can accommodate for the ever growing bandwidth demand and reduce power consumption. The key issue for modern telecommunication engineers and designers is no longer cost per bit, but power per bit. Using optical methods for carrying data and processing the data, without opto-to-electrical conversion, so-called all-optical methods, may help in this respect. This project will aim at developing an all-optical power-efficient communication scenario based on serial optical communications. In serial communications, fewer components will in general be used, and with ultra-short pulses, very high bit rates will become available. Historically, increases in the serial data rate have lead to cost savings, due to reduced complexity in management, reduced power consumption and a reduced number of components. We believe this will hold true, and will explore the fundamental physical limits of serial communications to reach the ultimate serial bit rate, and develop network scenarios to fully take advantage of the serial nature of the data, whilst maintaining a focus on limiting the power consumption. In particular we want to design network scenarios for optical serial multi-Tbit/s data and additionally build a 1 Tbit/s optical Ethernet scenario. We will develop stable ultra-fast switches , and mature them for a variety of functionalities, eventually leading to a validation of ultra-high-speed serial optical communication systems.

Keywords: optical communication,ultra-high speed serial communications,optical time division multiplexing,terabit ethernet,non-linear switches
An integrated geoscientific study of the thermodynamics and composition of the Earth's core-mantle interface (COMITAC)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Earth system science
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1639615.0
EU funding (EUR): 1639615.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The core-mantle interface is the central cog in the Earth&apos;s titanic heat engine. As the boundary between the two major convecting parts of the Earth system (the solid silicate mantle and the liquid iron outer core) the properties of this region have a profound influence on the thermochemical and dynamic evolution of the entire planet, including tectonic phenomena at the surface. Evidence from seismology shows that D&quot; (the lowermost few hundred kilometres of the mantle) is strongly heterogeneous in temperature, chemistry, structure and dynamics; this may dominate the long term evolution of the Earth&apos;s magnetic field and the morphology of mantle convection and chemical stratification, for example. Mapping and characterising this heterogeneity requires a detailed knowledge of the properties of the constituents and dynamics of D&quot;; this is achievable by resolving its seismic anisotropy. The observation of anisotropy in the shallow lithosphere was an important piece of evidence for the theory of plate tectonics; now such a breakthrough is possible for the analogous deep boundary. We are at a critical juncture where developments in modelling strain in the mantle, petrofabrics and seismic wave propagation can be combined to produce a new generation of integrated models of D&quot;, embodying more complete information than any currently available. I propose a groundbreaking project to build such multidisciplinary models and to produce the first complete image of lowermost mantle anisotropy using the best available global, high resolution seismic dataset. The comparison of the models with these data is the key to making a fundamental improvement in our understanding of the thermodynamics and composition of the core-mantle interface, and illuminating its role in the wider Earth system.

Keywords: geodynamics,geomagnetism
Mathematical Aspects of Quantum Dynamics (MAQD)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Switzerland,United Kingdom,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 750000.0
EU funding (EUR): 750000.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of this proposal is to reach a better mathematical understanding of the dynamics of quantum mechanical systems. In particular I plan to work on the following three projects along this direction. A. Effective Evolution Equations for Macroscopic Systems. The derivation of effective evolution equations from first principle microscopic theories is a fundamental task of statistical mechanics. I have been involved in several projects related to the derivation of the Hartree and the Gross-Piteavskii equation from many body quantum dynamics. I plan to continue to work on these problems and to use these results to obtain new information on the many body dynamics. B. Spectral Properties of Random Matrices. The correlations among eigenvalues of large random matrices are expected to be independent of the distribution of the entries. This conjecture, known as universality, is of great importance for random matrix theory. In collaboration with L. Erdos and H.-T. Yau, we established the validity of Wigner&amp;apos;s semicircle law on microscopic scales, and we proved the emergence of eigenvalue repulsion. In the future, we plan to continue to study Wigner matrices to prove, on the longer term, universality. C. Locality Estimates in Quantum Dynamics. Anharmonic lattice systems are very important models in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. With B. Nachtergaele, H. Raz, and R. Sims, we proved Lieb-Robinson type inequalities (giving an upper bound on the speed of propagation of signals), for a certain class of anharmonicity. Next, we plan to extend these results to a larger class of anharmonic potentials, and to apply these bounds to establish other fundamental properties of the dynamics of anharmonic systems, such as the existence of its thermodynamical limit.

Keywords: quantum dynamics,effective dynamics,evolution equations,random matrix theory,universality conjecture,lieb-robinson bounds,locality of quantum dynamics