ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

"Quantum information was born from the merging of classical information and quantum physics. Its main objective consists of understanding the quantum nature of information and learning how to process it by using physical systems which operate by following quantum mechanics laws. Quantum simulation is a fundamental instrument to investigate phenomena of quantum systems dynamics, such as quantum transport, particle localizations and energy transfer, quantum-to-classical transition, and even quantum improved computation, all tasks that are hard to simulate with classical approaches. Within this framework integrated photonic circuits have a strong potential to realize quantum information processing by optical systems. The aim of 3D-QUEST is to develop and implement quantum simulation by exploiting 3-dimensional integrated photonic circuits. 3D-QUEST is structured to demonstrate the potential of linear optics to implement a computational power beyond the one of a classical computer. Such ""hard-to-simulate"" scenario is disclosed when multiphoton-multimode platforms are realized. The 3D-QUEST research program will focus on three tasks of growing difficulty. A-1. To simulate bosonic-fermionic dynamics with integrated optical systems acting on 2 photon entangled states. A-2. To pave the way towards hard-to-simulate, scalable quantum linear optical circuits by investigating m-port interferometers acting on n-photon states with n>2. A-3. To exploit 3-dimensional integrated structures for the observation of new quantum optical phenomena and for the quantum simulation of more complex scenarios. 3D-QUEST will exploit the potential of the femtosecond laser writing integrated waveguides. This technique will be adopted to realize 3-dimensional capabilities and high flexibility, bringing in this way the optical quantum simulation in to new regime."

1 474 800 €

Start date: 2012-08-01, End date: 2017-07-31

Several observed anomalies in neutrino oscillation data can be explained by a hypothetical fourth neutrino separated from the three standard neutrinos by a squared mass difference of a few eV2. This hypothesis can be tested with a PBq (ten kilocurie scale) 144Ce antineutrino beta-source deployed at the center of a large low background liquid scintillator detector, such like Borexino, KamLAND, and SNO+. In particular, the compact size of such a source could yield an energy-dependent oscillating pattern in event spatial distribution that would unambiguously determine neutrino mass differences and mixing angles. The proposed program aims to perform the necessary research and developments to produce and deploy an intense antineutrino source in a large liquid scintillator detector. Our program will address the definition of the production process of the neutrino source as well as its experimental characterization, the detailed physics simulation of both signal and backgrounds, the complete design and the realization of the thick shielding, the preparation of the interfaces with the antineutrino detector, including the safety and security aspects.

1 500 000 €

Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2018-09-30

ACADEMIA proposes a pioneering study of a neglected corpus of manuscripts stemming from the practice of quodlibetal debates held at Faculties of Arts of European universities, flourishing from the 14th to the early 16th century. As prescribed by the university statutes, dozens of professors participated periodically in these unique collective works of the Middle Ages, which encompassed all the disciplines pursued at the university, from logic to medicine to theology. The PI hypothesises that the professors presented at the hitherto mostly ignored quodlibets their recent scientific innovations, which they then published in the first collective volumes of European academia. The PI thus proposes a novel theoretical framework for understanding the quodlibets: they stand at the origin of the modern concept of science as a collective intellectual enterprise, similar to modern conferences and the subsequent dissemination of results. This makes them and their written form critical for understanding European intellectual and scientific traditions, both past and present. ACADEMIA’s ambition is to establish the corpus of these debates as a new field of study through an extensive examination of manuscripts, thus filling a substantial gap, radically extending the fields of the history of universities and intellectual history, and reconstructing the roots of the modern practice of fostering collective science. A complex analysis of the corpus will bring about a substantial change in our understanding of medieval practices of the production and sharing of knowledge. Aiming to examine the quodlibets as a phenomenon successively interconnecting European intellectual space, ACADEMIA focuses on fourteen universities at which the PI has identified the tradition so far and on their mutual relations and development. ACADEMIA employs an interdisciplinary team and an innovative combination of approaches from history, codicology, palaeography, philology, hermeneutics and Digital Humanities.

1 260 485 €

Start date: 2021-07-01, End date: 2026-06-30

Pharaonic Egypt is commonly known for its pyramids and tomb treasures. The present knowledge of Egyptian everyday life and social structures derives mostly from mortuary records associated with the upper classes, whereas traces of ordinary life from domestic sites are generally disregarded. Settlement archaeology in Egypt and Nubia (Ancient North Sudan) is still in its infancy; it is timely to strenghten this field. Responsible for the pottery at three major settlement sites (Abydos and Elephantine in Egypt; Sai Island in Sudan), the PI is in a unique position to co-ordinate a research project on settlement patterns in Northeast Africa of the 2nd millennium BC based on the detailed analysis of material remains. The selected case studies situated across ancient and modern borders and of diverse environmental and cultural preconditions, show very similar archaeological remains. Up to now, no attempt has been made to explain this situation in detail. The focus of the project is the well-preserved, only partially explored site of Sai Island, seemingly an Egyptian microcosm in New Kingdom Upper Nubia. Little time is left to conduct the requisite large-scale archaeology as Sai is endangered by the planned high dam of Dal. With the application of microarchaeology we will introduce an approach that is new in Egyptian settlement archaeology. Our interdisciplinary research will result in novel insights into (a) multifaceted lives on Sai at a micro-spatial level and (b) domestic life in 2nd millennium BC Egypt and Nubia from a macroscopic view. The present understanding of the political situation in Upper Nubia during the New Kingdom as based on written records will be significantly enlarged by the envisaged approach. Furthermore, in reconstructing Sai Island as “home away from home”, the project presents a showcase study of what we can learn about acculturation and adaptation from ancient cultures, in this case from the coexistence of Egyptians and Nubians

1 497 460 €

Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2018-04-30