Project acronym OGLEIV
Project Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment: New Frontiers in Observational Astronomy
Researcher (PI) Andrzej Udalski
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2009-AdG
Summary We apply for financial support for the new, fourth phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-IV) - one of the largest scale sky surveys worldwide, operating continuously since 1992. During its operation the OGLE project contributed significantly to many fields of modern astrophysics including gravitational microlensing, extrasolar planets searches, stellar astrophysics, Galactic structure and many others. The main scientific goal of the OGLE-IV phase will be the second generation planetary microlensing survey. It should result in top rank discoveries of the Earth mass planets and should provide the full census of planets down to Earth masses orbiting their hosts at 1-5 AU orbits. This parameter space is only accessible to the microlensing technique. Complementary census of planets orbiting at the distances smaller that 1 AU is to be made by space missions using transit technique. OGLE-IV survey will also conduct research in many other top rank astrophysical topics like the search for Pluto size dwarf planets from the Kuiper Belt, search for free-floating black holes, microlensing in the Magellanic Clouds and Galactic disk. Hundreds of new discoveries in the variable star field are also guaranteed. Moreover, OGLE-IV will operate on-line services providing real time photometry of variable objects of many types. The OGLE-IV data will be placed in public domain and available to the astronomical community.
Summary
We apply for financial support for the new, fourth phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-IV) - one of the largest scale sky surveys worldwide, operating continuously since 1992. During its operation the OGLE project contributed significantly to many fields of modern astrophysics including gravitational microlensing, extrasolar planets searches, stellar astrophysics, Galactic structure and many others. The main scientific goal of the OGLE-IV phase will be the second generation planetary microlensing survey. It should result in top rank discoveries of the Earth mass planets and should provide the full census of planets down to Earth masses orbiting their hosts at 1-5 AU orbits. This parameter space is only accessible to the microlensing technique. Complementary census of planets orbiting at the distances smaller that 1 AU is to be made by space missions using transit technique. OGLE-IV survey will also conduct research in many other top rank astrophysical topics like the search for Pluto size dwarf planets from the Kuiper Belt, search for free-floating black holes, microlensing in the Magellanic Clouds and Galactic disk. Hundreds of new discoveries in the variable star field are also guaranteed. Moreover, OGLE-IV will operate on-line services providing real time photometry of variable objects of many types. The OGLE-IV data will be placed in public domain and available to the astronomical community.
Max ERC Funding
2 498 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2010-01-01, End date: 2014-12-31
Project acronym PGPE
Project Public Goods through Private Eyes. Exploring Citizens' Attitudes to Public Goods and the State in Central Eastern Europe
Researcher (PI) Natalia Garner
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe form a particularly challenging context for public goods production, due to the communist legacies as well as experiences of transformation. Drawing on theory and research available in political science, sociology and economics, this multi-disciplinary, comparative project will formulate and test an extensive model of public goods oriented behaviour and its determinants in the context of post-communist countries of CEE. The key objectives of this proposed project are to: (i) design and execute a full-scale cross-national survey on the determinants of public's attitudes and behaviour towards public goods; and (ii) combine these data with a wider range of existing indicators, relating to institutional design, social changes, political and economic reforms as well as historical legacies, in the context of post-communist Central Eastern Europe. Its fundamental aim, therefore, is to generate knowledge on the key determinants of democratic governance and democratic deepening in new democracies. This knowledge will allow to understand how citizens and governments of transition countries can work together towards a greater social, political, economic and environmental sustainability.
Summary
Post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe form a particularly challenging context for public goods production, due to the communist legacies as well as experiences of transformation. Drawing on theory and research available in political science, sociology and economics, this multi-disciplinary, comparative project will formulate and test an extensive model of public goods oriented behaviour and its determinants in the context of post-communist countries of CEE. The key objectives of this proposed project are to: (i) design and execute a full-scale cross-national survey on the determinants of public's attitudes and behaviour towards public goods; and (ii) combine these data with a wider range of existing indicators, relating to institutional design, social changes, political and economic reforms as well as historical legacies, in the context of post-communist Central Eastern Europe. Its fundamental aim, therefore, is to generate knowledge on the key determinants of democratic governance and democratic deepening in new democracies. This knowledge will allow to understand how citizens and governments of transition countries can work together towards a greater social, political, economic and environmental sustainability.
Max ERC Funding
1 730 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-12-01, End date: 2014-11-30
Project acronym SOSNA
Project Expressive Power of Tree Logics
Researcher (PI) Mikolaj Bojanczyk
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2009-StG
Summary Logics for expressing properties of labeled trees and forests figure importantly in several different areas of Computer Science, including verification (branching temporal logics) and database theory (many XML query languages). The goal of this project is to investigate the expressive power of tree logics, mainly those logics that can be captured by tree automata. A similar study, but for word languages, is one of the main lines of research in formal language theory. The study of the expressive power of word logics has lead to many beautiful and fundamental results, including Schutzenberger's characterization of star-free languages, and the Krohn-Rhodes decomposition theorem. We intend to extend this research for trees. The type of questions we want to answer is: what is the expressive power of first-order logic in trees? is there a Krohn-Rhodes decomposition theory for trees? what is a tree group? We expect that our study of tree logics will use algebraic techniques, possibly the setting of forest algebra (as introduced by the principal investigator and Igor Walukiewicz). We would also like to extend the algebraic setting beyond regular languages of finite trees, to e.g. infinite trees, or nonregular languages.
Summary
Logics for expressing properties of labeled trees and forests figure importantly in several different areas of Computer Science, including verification (branching temporal logics) and database theory (many XML query languages). The goal of this project is to investigate the expressive power of tree logics, mainly those logics that can be captured by tree automata. A similar study, but for word languages, is one of the main lines of research in formal language theory. The study of the expressive power of word logics has lead to many beautiful and fundamental results, including Schutzenberger's characterization of star-free languages, and the Krohn-Rhodes decomposition theorem. We intend to extend this research for trees. The type of questions we want to answer is: what is the expressive power of first-order logic in trees? is there a Krohn-Rhodes decomposition theory for trees? what is a tree group? We expect that our study of tree logics will use algebraic techniques, possibly the setting of forest algebra (as introduced by the principal investigator and Igor Walukiewicz). We would also like to extend the algebraic setting beyond regular languages of finite trees, to e.g. infinite trees, or nonregular languages.
Max ERC Funding
799 920 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31
