Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Nearshore Monitoring and Modelling: Inter-scale Coastal Behaviour (NEMO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Products and process engineering
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2917144.0
EU funding (EUR): 2917144.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The unprecedented growth of coastal communities has led to € billions worth of developments and infrastructure within the coastal zone. Therefore, future coastal hazards, which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change, will result in massive socio-economic and environmental impacts. To develop informed coastal management strategies to mitigate such adverse impacts, robust large scale, long term forecasts of coastal change are urgently required. However, none of the currently adopted approaches for simulating large scale, long-term (LSLT) coastal change appear to be capable of producing robust forecasts. The consideration of processes governing LSLT coastal morphodynamics at their operational scales presents similar challenges to those encountered in climate forecasting. The recognition of inter-scale process relationships and the scale aggregation challenge is conceptualised in a scale cascade concept. State-of-the-art and new innovative field monitoring methods will be implemented over a 5 year period along a 20km stretch of the Holland coast to acquire unprecedented process information at different temporal and spatial scales. These data will then be used in conjunction with existing macro-scale field data and strategic process based numerical modelling to support the development of an original, generic, physics based scale-aggregated numerical model of LSLT coastal change. Such an innovative physics based scale-aggregated approach to forecast LSLT coastal change has never been attempted, primarily due to lack of a clear vision and the non-availability of multi-scale field data. The development of the capability to robustly forecast LSLT coastal change will represent a ‘world first’ achievement which will significantly advance the state-of-the-art of coastal engineering/science. I firmly believe that this will place the young and exciting field of coastal engineering/science on par with the more developed disciplines such as meteorology and hydrology.

Keywords: coastal morphology,large scale coastal behaviour
Hyperfine structure of antihydrogen (HBAR-HFS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2599900.0
EU funding (EUR): 2599900.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Antihydrogen is the simplest atom consisting entirely of antimatter. Since its counterpart hydrogen is one of the best studied atoms in physics, a comparison of antihydrogen and hydrogen offers one of the most sensitive tests of CPT symmetry. CPT, the successive application of charge conjugation, parity and time reversal transformation is a fundamental symmetry conserved in the standard model (SM) of particle physics as a consequence of a mathematical theorem. These conditions for this theorem to be fulfilled are not valid any more in extensions of the SM like string theory or quantum gravity. Furthermore, even a tiny violation of CPT symmetry at the time of the big bang could be a cause of the observed antimatter absence in the universe. Thus the observation of CPT violation might offer a first indication for the validity of string theory, and would have important cosmological consequences. This project proposes to measure the ground state hyperfine (HFS) splitting of antihydrogen (HBAR), which is known in hydrogen with relative precision of 10^–12. The experimental method pursued within the ASACUSA collaboration at CERN-AD consists in the formation of an antihydrogen beam and a measurement using a spin-flip cavity and a sextupole magnet as spin analyser like it was done initially for hydrogen. A major milestone was achieved in 2010 when antihydrogen was first synthesized by ASACUSA. In the first phase of this proposal, an antihydrogen beam will be produced and the HBAR-HFS will be measured to a precision of around 10^–7 using a single microwave cavity. In a second phase, the Ramsey method of separated oscillatory fields will be used to increase the precision further. In parallel methods will be developed towards trapping and laser cooling the antihydrogen atoms. Letting the cooled antihydrogen escape in a field free region and perform microwave spectroscopy offers the ultimate precision achievable to measure the HBAR-HFS and one of the most sensitive tests of CPT.

Keywords: antihydrogen,cpt symmetry,fundamental symmetries,precision spectroscopy,hyperfine splitting
Addressing global sustainability challenges by changing perceptions in catalyst design (AFTERTHEGOLDRUSH)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2279785.0
EU funding (EUR): 2279785.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the greatest challenges facing society is the sustainability of resources. At present, a step change in the sustainable use of resources is needed and catalysis lies at the heart of the solution by providing new routes to carbon dioxide mitigation, energy security and water conservation. It is clear that new high efficiency game-changing catalysts are required to meet the challenge. This proposal will focus on excellence in catalyst design by learning from recent step change advances in gold catalysis by challenging perceptions. Intense interest in gold catalysts over the past two decades has accelerated our understanding of gold particle-size effects, gold-support and gold-metal interactions, the interchange between atomic and ionic gold species, and the role of the gold-support interface in creating and maintaining catalytic activity. The field has also driven the development of cutting-edge techniques, particularly in microscopy and transient kinetics, providing detailed structural characterisation on the nano-scale and probing the short-range and often short-lived interactions. By comparison, our understanding of other metal catalysts has remained relatively static. The proposed programme will engender a step change in the design of supported-metal catalysts, by exploiting the learning and the techniques emerging from gold catalysis. The research will be set out in two themes. In Theme 1 two established key grand challenges will be attacked; namely, energy vectors and greenhouse gas control. Theme 2 will address two new and emerging grand challenges in catalysis namely the effective low temperature activation of primary carbon hydrogen bonds and CO2 utilisation where instead of treating CO2 as a thermodynamic endpoint, the aim will be to re-use it as a feedstock for bulk chemical and fuel production. The legacy of the research will be the development of a new catalyst design approach that will provide a tool box for future catalyst development.

Keywords: catalyst design,selective oxidation
Testing the Dark Energy Paradigm and Measuring Neutrino Mass with the Dark Energy Survey (TESTDE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2416388.0
EU funding (EUR): 2416388.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the greatest mysteries in the whole of science is that 75% of the Universe appears to be made of an enigmatic ‘Dark Energy’. A further 21% of the Universe is made from invisible ‘Cold Dark Matter’ that can only be detected through its gravitational effects, with the ordinary atomic matter making up only 4% of the total cosmic budget. These discoveries require a shift in our perception. I play leadership roles in several large surveys, in particular the $40M international Dark Energy Survey (DES), where I coordinate the entire science programme, with 200 scientists from 5 countries. DES will have its first light in October 2011, with observing from 2012 to 2017. I propose three Themes, which are interlinked: (1) Modelling the cross-talk of DES probes and a feasibility study for a spectroscopic follow-up (DESpec) which will allow testing modified General Relativity models as alternatives to Dark Energy; (2) Attempting for the first time to measure the as yet unknown neutrino mass from DES, including novel modelling of the non-linear power spectrum; and (3) Follow up of an intriguing excess in galaxy clustering on large scales we recently detected in our home-grown MegaZ-LRG sample, and developing new approaches to photometric redshifts. The research is interdisciplinary since it is connected to statistical methods as well as to High Energy Physics. The techniques developed will also be used for many other projects, including the ongoing Hubble Space Telescope CLASH survey of clusters and the planned ESA Euclid space mission. At this stage of my career, after founding the Cosmology area at University College London and playing a key role in setting up DES, I wish to focus on creative research to exploit DES with the help of four Post-docs. I believe this work will significantly influence the next paradigm shift in Cosmology, and it will make a major contribution to Cosmology in Europe.
Cosmic Dust in the Terrestrial Atmosphere (CODITA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Earth system science
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2484369.0
EU funding (EUR): 2484369.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project addresses a fundamental problem – the size of the cosmic dust input to the earth’s atmosphere. Zodiacal cloud observations and spaceborne dust detection indicate a daily input of 100 – 300 tonnes, in agreement with the accumulation rates of cosmic elements (e.g. Ir, Pt) in polar ice cores and deep-sea sediments. In contrast, measurements in the middle atmosphere – by radar, lidar, high-flying aircraft and satellite remote sensing – indicate that the input is only 5 - 50 tonnes. The aim of CODITA is to resolve this huge discrepancy. There are two reasons why this matters. First, if the upper range of estimates is correct, then vertical transport in the middle atmosphere must be considerably faster than generally believed; whereas if the lower range is correct, then our understanding of dust evolution in the solar system, and transport from the middle atmosphere to the surface, will need substantial revision. Second, cosmic dust particles enter the atmosphere at high speeds and in most cases completely ablate. The resulting metals injected into the atmosphere are involved in a diverse range of phenomena, including: formation of layers of metal atoms and ions; nucleation of noctilucent clouds; impacts on stratospheric aerosols and O3 chemistry (which need to be evaluated against the background of a cooling stratosphere and geo-engineering plans to increase sulphate aerosol); and fertilization of the ocean with bio-available Fe, which has potential climate feedbacks. CODITA will use laboratory studies to target poorly understood aspects of this problem, such as the nature of the ablation process itself, the formation of meteoric smoke particles, and their role in ice nucleation and the freezing of polar stratospheric clouds. The results will be incorporated into a chemistry-climate model of the whole atmosphere, so that it will be possible, for the first time, to model the effects of cosmic dust self-consistently from the thermosphere to the surface.

Keywords: interplanetary dust,meteors,mesospheric metals,noctilucent clouds,stratospheric sulphate aerosols,iron fertilization,ice cores
Quantum resources: conceptuals and applications (QOLAPS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Poland,Poland,Sweden,Poland,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1970380.0
EU funding (EUR): 1970380.0
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

The studies of quantum resources - entanglement (E) and non-locality (NL) carried out over the last decade have broadened horizons of our conceptual understanding of Nature and at the same time opened unprecedented possibilities for practical applications. The project aims at taking advantage of the most recent discoveries to understand the ultimate power and find novel applications of these resources. The main objectives are: E) to study novel entanglement-induced non-additivity effects in quantum communication and application of mixed state entanglement to quantum metrology NL) to recognize the influence of information causality on the power of quantum non-locality and verify the power of non-locality, and more generally – contextuality – for quantum computational speed-up. In particular, it is planned: E) to find new non-additivities by providing explicit constructions of bipartite channels, broadcast channels and quantum networks; to demonstrate experimentally non-additivity effects; to provide experimentally friendly entanglement measures in quantum networks; to analyse entanglement-enhanced metrology in presence of decoherence NL) to determine to what extent information-causality reproduces quantum mechanics; to generalize information causality to multipartite systems; to provide new fundamental information-theoretical principles behind quantum mechanics; to quantify and classify contextuality; to design and analyse multiparty non-local systems independently of quantum mechanics; to verify their usefulness for communication and computational tasks. We shall extensively exploit multiple interrelations between these two aspects of quantum physics. The results of theoretical investigations will be implemented in labs by experimental partners. In particular, we plan pioneering implementations of quantum channel non-additivity effects. The proposed research lines will bring ground-breaking results for quantum information processing.

Keywords: quantum entanglement,non-locality,quantum information,quantum communication,quantum crypotgraphy,quantum computation,contextuality
Nano Photonics-Based Micro Robotics (PHOTBOTS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2200000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2200000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The general goal is to bring together different fields of research in order to create a new research area of photonic micro robotics. That is to create, study, and implement truly microscopic structures with nano scale accuracy that can perform robotic tasks and that are entirely powered and controlled by light. This idea brings immense challenges both from the point of view of the physics involved as well as the chemistry needed to create the appropriate materials, but if successful can also have a huge impact. To achieve this, we will combine our expertise on complex photonic materials and direct laser writing, to create micro structured patterns in liquid crystal elastomers, which are rubber-like polymers with liquid crystalline properties that can be triggered with light. In our view, this opens up a new strategy to create robots of various kinds, on a truly micrometer length scale. That is, micro robots that can swim, walk, or crawl, and when at destination perform specific tasks, controlled and driven by light. This proposal, in the first instance, deals with fundamental, curiosity-driven research and wishes to address the wealth of physics and chemistry that arises when combining nano photonics with micro robotics. Having said that, the range of potential applications is very broad. Our photonic micro robots would be able to penetrate otherwise difficult to access environments and perform tasks such as sensing or sampling. They could be made in large quantities which means they could also be put into action collectively in swarms (using mechanical and/or optical interaction between the individual robots). The project is truly interdisciplinary, which makes it very challenging but also exciting. The photonic micro robotic structures will be created by bringing together concepts from physics and chemistry, while the inspiration for designs comes partly from biology and potential applications can be foreseen in medicine.

Keywords: photonic crystals
Coupled Cluster Calculations on Large Molecular Systems (LCC)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: Denmark
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1738432.0
EU funding (EUR): 1738432.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Quantum mechanics provides the key to the understanding of the molecular world. Many years of theoretical research have made coupled cluster calculations the state-of-the-art method for small molecules, where calculations have reached an accuracy often challenging experimental results. To describe large molecular systems with coupled cluster methods, the computational scaling with the system size of existing methods represents a roadblock to progress. The ultimate goal is to obtain coupled cluster methods that scale linearly with system size and where the calculations are embarrassingly parallel, such that calculations for small and large molecular systems require the same computational wall time. This proposal describes how this goal may be accomplished. The key is to express the coupled cluster wave function in a basis of local Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals. We have recently shown how such a local HF basis may be obtained and described how linear-scaling, embarrassingly parallel coupled cluster energies may be obtained. Here we present proof-of-concept calculations for the energy and the molecular gradient for the simple model MP2 (second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory) and propose to use the same technology for higher level coupled cluster methods to yield not only the energy of a large molecule, but also molecular properties as the equilibrium geometry, harmonic frequencies, excitation energies and transition moments, nuclear shieldings, polarizabilities and electronic and vibrational circular dichroism. This proposal will open a new era of accurate quantum calculations on large molecular systems such as nanoparticles and proteins. The presented developments will accelerate research, not only in chemistry and physics, but in molecular science and engineering in general.

Keywords: linear-scaling coupled cluster,high-accuracy energies and properties for large molecular systems
Unifiying Concepts for Acid-Base- and Redox-Chemistry: Development, Validation and Application of Absolute pH and pe Scales Culminating in the Protoelectric Potential Map PPM (UNICHEM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110209, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2017-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1866000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1866000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Acid-base and redox chemistry are the two most fundamental concepts in general chemistry. However, both concepts are usually limited to one medium/solvent, although they are related through the gaseous hydrogen atom delivering the proton for Brønsted acidity and the electron for redox chemistry. Here we describe, how the ideal proton gas and the ideal electron gas form the reference states for our absolute pH Brønsted acidity scale (Angew. Chem. 2010) and the related absolute pe redox scale. Both can be combined to the Protoelectric Potential Map (PPM) that allows studying and understanding any redox or acid base reaction over solvent and even phase boundaries in dependence of the pHabs and peabs. First examples for this PPM are included with the proposal and ways how to establish anchor points for this two-dimensional PPM scale are delineated. It should be noted that this unifying concept is thermodynamically exact and makes full use of all hitherto available (experimental or calculated) pKa-values, Gibbs transfer energies and electrochemical standard potentials in either aqueous or non-aqueous solution. Even coupling to the gaseous or solid state is possible. The research team shall include three subgroups: i) the principle problem conception and method development Methodology Group (MG), ii) the experimental validation and measurement Validation Group (VG) and last, but not least, iii) the preparative chemistry group that shall make use of the inherent potential of this unified view on Brønsted acidity and redox chemistry by preparing unusual protonated or oxidized species that present spectacular prototype problems to elucidate the frontiers of chemistry (Application Group AG). By using this threefold approach, we envision to highlight the full potential of this new concept to those who could also make use of this approach, i.e. scientists from almost all areas of chemistry and the surrounding disciplines.

Keywords: bronsted acidity scales,redox scales,carbocations,phosphorus cations,naked nickel,quantum chemistry,thermodynamics,chemical potential,electrochemistry,protonation,oxidation.