Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Integrated Theory and Observations of the Pleistocene (ITOP)

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: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1047600.0
EU funding (EUR): 1047600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There are essentially two approaches to climate modelling. Over the past decades, efforts to understand climate dynamics have been dominated by computationally-intensive modelling aiming to include all possible processes, essentially by integrating the equations for the relevant physics. This is the bottom-up approach. However, even the largest models include many approximations and the cumulative effect of these approximations make it impossible to predict the evolution of climate over several tens of thousands of years. For this reason a more phenomenological approach is also useful. It consists in identifying coherent spatio-temporal structures in the climate time-series in order to understand how they interact. Theoretically, the two approaches focus on different levels of information and they should be complementary. In practice, they are generally perceived to be in philosophical opposition and there is no unifying methodological framework. Our ambition is to provide this methodological framework with a focus on climate dynamics at the scale of the Pleistocene (last 2 million years). We pursue a triple objective (1) the framework must be rigorous but flexible enough to test competing theories of ice ages (2) it must avoid circular reasonings associated with ``tuning&apos;&apos; (3) it must provide a credible basis to unify our knowledge of climate dynamics and provide a state-of-the-art ``prediction horizon&apos;&apos;. To this end we propose a methodology spanning different but complementary disciplines: physical climatology, empirical palaeoclimatology, dynamical system analysis and applied Bayesian statistics. It is intended to have a wide applicability in climate science where there is an interest in using reduced-order representations of the climate system.

Keywords: complex systems,bayesian statistics
Under the light of electrons (STEMOX)

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: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2015-10-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1700000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1700000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Here, we propose to explore and characterize new emerging phenomena in low dimensional (LD) and artificially structured oxide based systems by means of advanced electron microscopy techniques. Complex oxides have a large range of applications, since their properties change drastically as their precise composition and structure changes. When obtained in LD configurations new functionalities arise which are of fundamental interest in electronics, spintronics, energy or nanophotonics. We will use atomic resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the aberration corrected electron microscope to map their electronic, optical and magnetic properties by means of electron chiral dichroism. We intend to combine spectroscopic magnetic imaging with plasmonic measurements in order to explore, for the first time ever, the sensitivity of electron spectroscopy to magneto-optical properties at high spatial resolution. Our scientific mission will be to a) synthetize and characterize high quality oxide based LD systems and develop new imaging techniques, in order to b) explore new phenomena in systems showing unexpected behaviors. Our approach relies on comprehensive studies with atomic resolution, in real space, and when possible, at work (under the relevant temperature or pressure conditions). We will combine experiments with theory in order to interpret results and design new avenues to follow. This proposal has also a dual strategic component: 1) to create a new group in Spain devoted to study materials physics in such a way, and 2) to establish a world-class collaboration connecting the group to established growers and theorists, assembling a multidisciplinary team. The potential payoffs we envision are large, and many new and unusual materials, devices and phenomena are anticipated.

Keywords: electron microscopy,electron energy loss spectroscopy,oxide interfaces
Ultra-Pure nanowire heterostructures and energy CONversion (UPCON)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1286000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1286000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal is devoted to the synthesis of ultra-pure semiconductor nanowire heterostructures for energy conversion applications in the photovoltaic domain. Nanowires are filamentary crystals with a very high ratio of length to diameter, the latter being in the nanometer range. Nanowires are of significant interest owing to their large surface-to-volume ratio and low-dimensional properties, as well as attractive building blocks of novel devices, including for novel energy conversion applications. The most widely employed nanowire growth method relies on the use of gold, which is known to be an impurity limiting mobility and carrier lifetime in semiconductors. It is generally realized that nanowires with higher purity could enable significant advances in both fundamental studies and technological applications. This proposal combines two complementary and essential aspects of semiconductor nanowires: (i) synthesis in extremely clean conditions and (ii) their application to new concepts of photovoltaic devices. The first part involves the use of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) system for the synthesis of III-V semiconductor nanowires and heterostructures. Special emphasis will be given in the synthesis of new heterostructure designs, i.e. across the nanowire radius and along the growth axis. The fabrication of ordered arrays of nanowires on large areas and on silicon substrates will also be investigated. In the second part, nanowire based solar cells will be designed, fabricated and characterized. Particular emphasis will be given toward understanding the role of geometry and interfaces in the energy conversion efficiency of the novel nanowire-based solar cells. Here, the high cleanliness and precise heteroepitaxial growth of MBE nanowires will allow us to perform fundamental studies, generating ground-breaking knowledge on the microscopic processes in energy conversion. This project will foster the use of nanotechnology in the energy challenges of the XXI century.

Keywords: nanowires,iii-v semiconductors,photovoltaics,energy conversion,heterostructures,epitaxy
Reconstruction of methane flux from lakes: development and application of a new approach (RECONMET)

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: Switzerland,Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1554000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1554000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Reconstruction of methane flux from lakes: development and application of a new approach

Keywords: paleolimnology,lake sediment,chironomid,methane,lake ecosystem,climate
Stochastic and Multiscale Modelling in Biology (STOANDMULMODINBIO)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 68.0
Total project cost (EUR): 624999.0
EU funding (EUR): 624999.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I will create a research team in applied mathematics which will work on development and analysis of methods for stochastic and multiscale modelling of biological systems. This research project is divided into three core areas: (A) development of stochastic simulation algorithms for reaction-diffusion processes; (B) analysis of (bio)chemical reaction systems using the chemical Fokker-Planck equation and multiscale computational approaches; (C) understanding the collective behaviour of systems of interacting particles. Two postdoctoral research assistants (each position of 3 years duration) will work on the research questions of parts (A) and (B). Part (C) will be the work of one doctoral student. Important questions of accuracy and efficiency of existing and novel stochastic and multiscale modelling approaches will be addressed. In part (A), we will investigate the conditions under which different stochastic simulation algorithms for reaction-diffusion processes are equivalent and under which they differ. We will develop correct and efficient methods for coupling models with a different level of detail in different parts of the simulated domain. The research outputs will be of use to scientists outside mathematics, for example, to computational biologists and computational chemists. In part (B), we will investigate methods for extracting useful information from stochastic models of chemical reaction networks. One approach will be based on the analysis and numerical solution of the chemical Fokker-Planck equation, another approach on running and processing short bursts of appropriately initialized stochastic simulation of the chemical system. In both cases, the applicability of numerical methods for solving higher-dimensional partial differential equations will be explored. In part (C), the doctoral student will study approaches for understanding the collective behaviour of systems of interacting particles, with applications to individual-based modelling of cells and animals.

Keywords: mathematical modelling in biology
Ergodic theory on non compact spaces (ERGODICNONCOMPACT)

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: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 539479.0
EU funding (EUR): 539479.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposal is to look for, and investigate, new ergodic theoretic types of behavior for dynamical systems which act on non compact spaces. These could include transience and non-trivial ways of escape to infinity, critical phenomena similar to phase transitions, and new types of measure rigidity. There are potential applications to smooth ergodic theory (non-uniform hyperbolicity), algebraic ergodic theory (actions on homogeneous spaces), and probability theory (weakly dependent stochastic processes).

Keywords: thermodynamic formalism,horocycle flows,non uniform hyperbolicity
Quantum entanglement and the renormalization group (QUERG)

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: Austria
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2014-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1274254.0
EU funding (EUR): 1274254.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Among the most defining events in physics during the last decade were the spectacular advances in the field of strongly correlated quantum many body systems: the observation of quantum phase transitions in optical lattices and the realization that many body entanglement can be exploited to build quantum computers are only two of the notable breakthroughs. The description of strongly correlated quantum systems and the associated entanglement structure is still largely unexplored territory. This field represents one of the big challenges and opportunities in theoretical physics. In a recent evolution, we showed that the tools developed in the context of quantum computing and entanglement theory lead to a novel understanding of the structure of the wavefunctions that arise as ground states of strongly correlated quantum Hamiltonians. This approach opens up a wealth of new research opportunities that will be investigated, such as a description of quantum phases of matter with nonlocal order parameters and an explicit characterization of quantum states exhibiting critical behaviour and/or topological quantum order. Such theories cannot be described within the conventional Landau theory of phase transitions. The theory of entanglement also provides a new language in which one can describe real-space renormalization group methods, and this is resulting in a long anticipated extension of their range of applicability. A crucial part of the project will consist of developing stable numerical methods that generalize the very successful DMRG method to two dimensions and to non-equilibrium situations. One of the main objectives is to simulate the phase diagram of the Hubbard model in two dimensions. Preliminary results are promising, and we are confident that this work will impact the way we understand, observe and manipulate the quantum world. This is especially relevant since quantum effects will play an increasingly dominant role in future technologies.

Keywords: quantum entanglement,renormalization group,strongly correlated quantum systems
Algorithmic Development and Analysis of Pioneer Techniques for Imaging with waVES (ADAPTIVES)

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: Greece
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2015-11-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 690000.0
EU funding (EUR): 690000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed work concerns the theoretical and numerical development of robust and adaptive methodologies for broadband imaging in clutter. The word clutter expresses our uncertainty on the wave speed of the propagation medium. Our results are expected to have a strong impact in a wide range of applications, including underwater acoustics, exploration geophysics and ultrasound non-destructive testing. Our machinery is coherent interferometry (CINT), a state-of-the-art statistically stable imaging methodology, highly suitable for the development of imaging methods in clutter. We aim to extend CINT along two complementary directions: novel types of applications, and further mathematical and numerical development so as to assess and extend its range of applicability. CINT is designed for imaging with partially coherent array data recorded in richly scattering media. It uses statistical smoothing techniques to obtain results that are independent of the clutter realization. Quantifying the amount of smoothing needed is difficult, especially when there is no a priori knowledge about the propagation medium. We intend to address this question by coupling the imaging process with the estimation of the medium's large scale features. Our algorithms rely on the residual coherence in the data. When the coherent signal is too weak, the CINT results are unsatisfactory. We propose two ways for enhancing the resolution of CINT: filter the data prior to imaging (noise reduction) and waveform design (optimize the source distribution). Finally, we propose to extend the applicability of our imaging-in-clutter methodologies by investigating the possibility of utilizing ambient noise sources to perform passive sensor imaging, as well as by studying the imaging problem in random waveguides.

Keywords: wave imaging,scattering,random media
Strong Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (STRONGPCP)

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: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2016-06-30
Duration (months): 82.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1639584.0
EU funding (EUR): 1639584.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Probabilistically Checkable Proofs (PCPs) encapsulate the striking idea that verification of proofs becomes nearly trivial if one is willing to use randomness. The PCP theorem, proven in the early 90&apos;s, is a cornerstone of modern computational complexity theory. It completely revises our notion of a proof, leading to an amazingly robust behavior: A PCP proof is guaranteed to have an abundance of errors if attempting to prove a falsity. This stands in sharp contrast to our classical notion of a proof whose correctness can collapse due to one wrong step. An important drive in the development of PCP theory is the revolutionary effect it had on the field of approximation. Feige et. al. [JACM, 1996] discovered that the PCP theorem is *equivalent* to the inapproximability of several classical optimization problems. Thus, PCP theory has resulted in a leap in our understanding of approximability and opened the gate to a flood of results. To date, virtually all inapproximability results are based on the PCP theorem, and while there is an impressive body of work on hardness-of-approximation, much work still lies ahead. The central goal of this proposal is to obtain stronger PCPs than currently known, leading towards optimal inapproximability results and novel notions of robustness in computation and in proofs. This study will build upon (i) new directions opened up by my novel proof of the PCP theorem [JACM, 2007]; and on (ii) state-of-the-art PCP machinery involving techniques from algebra, functional and harmonic analysis, probability, combinatorics, and coding theory. The broader impact of this study spans a better understanding of limits for approximation algorithms saving time and resources for algorithm designers; and new understanding of robustness in a variety of mathematical contexts, arising from the many connections between PCPs and stability questions in combinatorics, functional analysis, metric embeddings, probability, and more.

Keywords: hardness of approximation,pcp,computational complexity,combinatorial optimization
Microscopic Modelling of Excitonic Solar Cell Interfaces (MIMESIS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2013-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1050000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1050000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Organic Photovoltaic Solar Cells and Dyes Sensitized Solar Cells (collectively referred to as Excitonic Solar Cells) are one of the major alternatives to silicon photovoltaics and the subject of the proposed investigation. The PI s expertise in the theory of single molecule electron transport, organic electronics and condensed phase simulations will be used to build a research team that will investigate all elementary processes that take place at the interface of excitonic solar cells. For the first time within a single theoretical research team, the same attention will be paid to the morphology of the relevant interfaces, their electronic structure at an atomistic level and the computation of the rates of the elementary processes (e.g. charge separation, charge recombination, triplet formation, etc.). Although the rates of the interfacial processes are what determine ultimately the efficiency of the cell, no theoretical tool so far has been used for their prediction and to guide the synthesis of new materials. This limitation of theory is related to the intrinsic complication of electron and exciton transfer across heterogeneous interfaces whose study does not fall within the remit of a single discipline. Breaking the traditional boundaries between soft-matter and quantum chemistry simulations and between solid state theory and molecular photochemistry, the proposed research aims at providing what is thought to be the best possible theoretical description of excitonic solar cells that can be achieved in 4 years time. The proposed investigation will provide a comprehensive understanding of the relation between chemical composition and efficiency in excitonic solar cells that will serve as a reference for future investigations in the field of photovoltaic research.

Keywords: photovoltaics,exciton- electron- transfer,interfaces,quantum dynamics,molecular simulations
Interdisciplinary Ocean Wave for Geophysical and other applications (IOWAGA)

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: France
Call:  (ERC-2009-StG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1099040.0
EU funding (EUR): 1099040.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Ocean waves are the essential gearbox between the atmosphere and ocean and also consitute a very peculiar prism through which most satellite sensors see the ocean. IOWAGA proposes a systemic investigation of ocean waves for improving the ocean surface wave compartment of Earth system models. The project will integrate in a coherent manner exisiting and new wave-related observations from multiple sources, including remote sensing, seismic records, and in situ measurements, from climate and global scales to coastal scales and single events. Going through several cycles from observations to numerical modelling via theory and parameterizations, a consistent numerical model will be refined. This modelling tool will be exploited for multi-scale hindcasts and analyses of wave related parameters, with applications to geophysics at large, in particular remote sensing, air-sea interactions, coastal hydrodynamics and seismic studies, and practical applications with associated societal benefits (ocean energy planning and management, marine safety, pollution mitigation &amp;). The consistency between the various wave observations and the numerical modelling efforts is essential to constrain and advance better understandings of wave-related processes, to improve the accuracy of the wave-related parameters to be estimated, but also to help instrumental designs and future ocean surface remote sensing space observations. IOWAGA will be a focal point for ocean wave research, with close connection to other efforts in Europe that are focused on other compartments of the Earth system models.