Project acronym CepBin
Project A sub-percent distance scale from binaries and Cepheids
Researcher (PI) Grzegorz PIETRZYNSKI
Host Institution (HI) CENTRUM ASTRONOMICZNE IM. MIKOLAJAKOPERNIKA POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE9, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary We propose to carry out a project which will produce a decisive step towards improving the accuracy of the Hubble constant as determined from the Cepheid-SN Ia method to 1%, by using 28 extremely rare eclipsing binary systems in the LMC which offer the potential to determine their distances to 1%. To achieve this accuracy we will reduce the main error in the binary method by interferometric angular diameter measurements of a sample of red clump stars which resemble the stars in our binary systems. We will check on our calibration with similar binary systems close enough to determine their orbits from interferometry. We already showed the feasibility of our method which yielded the best-ever distance determination to the LMC of 2.2% from 8 such binary systems. With 28 systems and the improved angular diameter calibration we will push the LMC distance uncertainty down to 1% which will allow to set the zero point of the Cepheid PL relation with the same accuracy using the large available LMC Cepheid sample. We will determine the metallicity effect on Cepheid luminosities by a) determining a 2% distance to the more metal-poor SMC with our binary method, and by b) measuring the distances to LMC and SMC with an improved Baade-Wesselink (BW) method. We will achieve this improvement by analyzing 9 unique Cepheids in eclipsing binaries in the LMC our group has discovered which allow factor- of-ten improvements in the determination of all basic physical parameters of Cepheids. These studies will also increase our confidence in the Cepheid-based H0 determination. Our project bears strong synergy to the Gaia mission by providing the best checks on possible systematic uncertainties on Gaia parallaxes with 200 binary systems whose distances we will measure to 1-2%. We will provide two unique tools for 1-3 % distance determinations to individual objects in a volume of 1 Mpc, being competitive to Gaia already at a distance of 1 kpc from the Sun.
Summary
We propose to carry out a project which will produce a decisive step towards improving the accuracy of the Hubble constant as determined from the Cepheid-SN Ia method to 1%, by using 28 extremely rare eclipsing binary systems in the LMC which offer the potential to determine their distances to 1%. To achieve this accuracy we will reduce the main error in the binary method by interferometric angular diameter measurements of a sample of red clump stars which resemble the stars in our binary systems. We will check on our calibration with similar binary systems close enough to determine their orbits from interferometry. We already showed the feasibility of our method which yielded the best-ever distance determination to the LMC of 2.2% from 8 such binary systems. With 28 systems and the improved angular diameter calibration we will push the LMC distance uncertainty down to 1% which will allow to set the zero point of the Cepheid PL relation with the same accuracy using the large available LMC Cepheid sample. We will determine the metallicity effect on Cepheid luminosities by a) determining a 2% distance to the more metal-poor SMC with our binary method, and by b) measuring the distances to LMC and SMC with an improved Baade-Wesselink (BW) method. We will achieve this improvement by analyzing 9 unique Cepheids in eclipsing binaries in the LMC our group has discovered which allow factor- of-ten improvements in the determination of all basic physical parameters of Cepheids. These studies will also increase our confidence in the Cepheid-based H0 determination. Our project bears strong synergy to the Gaia mission by providing the best checks on possible systematic uncertainties on Gaia parallaxes with 200 binary systems whose distances we will measure to 1-2%. We will provide two unique tools for 1-3 % distance determinations to individual objects in a volume of 1 Mpc, being competitive to Gaia already at a distance of 1 kpc from the Sun.
Max ERC Funding
2 360 500 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-11-01, End date: 2021-10-31
Project acronym EIRENE
Project Post-war trasistions in gendered perspective: the case of the North-Eastern Adricatic Region
Researcher (PI) Marta VERGINELLA
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The EIRENE project’s purpose is to think afresh 20th-century post-war transitions by taking into account a gendered perspective. Namely, the historiographic consideration of gender thoroughly alters the understanding of social dynamics in multi-ethnic areas during the post-war transitions. They will be observed in the North-Eastern Adriatic region, an overlooked European space, marked by border redefinitions, changes of political systems, and high interethnic conflict intensity, but also by genuine cooperation among ethnic groups. The region has all the qualities of a “laboratory environment” for the study of gender positions and interrelations after World Wars I and II and after the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. The project will differ substantially from previous attempts to analyse post-war transitions in these aspects: a) longitudinal approach, comparing three post-war periods in order to detect their specifics and (dis)continuities; b) transnational approach, by overcoming nation-centric frameworks of analysis; c) by combining conceptual political and social sciences with historiography; and finally, d) by examining post-war transitions through the prism of gender. Focusing on four research-fields (politics, political violence, work, family), the project will validate innovative analytical concepts of the “inclusion-exclusion paradox” of women in post-war transitions, and women as “cross-boundary mediators”. Within the category of gender, focal attention will be given to women as they are often invisible in historical accounts and remain neglected in historicizing. By aggregating empirical sources, the project will approach the proposed subject matter by investigating the processes of identification across the lines of ethnic origin, class, generations, marital status, profession/occupation, language of use, migratory processes, etc. The project’s added value is its novel conceptual applicability to other comparable geopolitical areas.
Summary
The EIRENE project’s purpose is to think afresh 20th-century post-war transitions by taking into account a gendered perspective. Namely, the historiographic consideration of gender thoroughly alters the understanding of social dynamics in multi-ethnic areas during the post-war transitions. They will be observed in the North-Eastern Adriatic region, an overlooked European space, marked by border redefinitions, changes of political systems, and high interethnic conflict intensity, but also by genuine cooperation among ethnic groups. The region has all the qualities of a “laboratory environment” for the study of gender positions and interrelations after World Wars I and II and after the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. The project will differ substantially from previous attempts to analyse post-war transitions in these aspects: a) longitudinal approach, comparing three post-war periods in order to detect their specifics and (dis)continuities; b) transnational approach, by overcoming nation-centric frameworks of analysis; c) by combining conceptual political and social sciences with historiography; and finally, d) by examining post-war transitions through the prism of gender. Focusing on four research-fields (politics, political violence, work, family), the project will validate innovative analytical concepts of the “inclusion-exclusion paradox” of women in post-war transitions, and women as “cross-boundary mediators”. Within the category of gender, focal attention will be given to women as they are often invisible in historical accounts and remain neglected in historicizing. By aggregating empirical sources, the project will approach the proposed subject matter by investigating the processes of identification across the lines of ethnic origin, class, generations, marital status, profession/occupation, language of use, migratory processes, etc. The project’s added value is its novel conceptual applicability to other comparable geopolitical areas.
Max ERC Funding
2 266 067 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-12-01, End date: 2022-11-30
Project acronym FUNDMS
Project Functionalisation of Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors
Researcher (PI) Tomasz Dietl
Host Institution (HI) INSTYTUT FIZYKI POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary Low-temperature studies of transition metal doped III-V and II-VI compounds carried out over the last decade have demonstrated the unprecedented opportunity offered by these systems for exploring physical phenomena and device concepts in previously unavailable combinations of quantum structures and ferromagnetism in semiconductors. The work proposed here aims at combining and at advancing epitaxial methods, spatially-resolved nano-characterisation tools, and theoretical modelling in order to understand the intricate interplay between carrier localisation, magnetism, and magnetic ion distribution in DMS, and to develop functional DMS structures. To accomplish these goals we will take advantage of two recent breakthroughs in materials engineering. First, the attainment of high-k oxides makes now possible to generate interfacial hole densities up to 10^21 cm-3. We will exploit gated thin layers of DMS phosphides, nitrides, and oxides, in which hole delocalization and thus high temperature ferromagnetism is to be expected under gate bias. Furthermore we will systematically investigate how the Curie temperature of (Ga,Mn)As can be risen above 180 K. Second, the progress in nanoscale chemical analysis has allowed demonstrating that high temperature ferromagnetism of semiconductors results from nanoscale crystallographic or chemical phase separations into regions containing a large concentration of the magnetic constituent. We will elaborate experimentally and theoretically epitaxy and co-doping protocols for controlling the self-organised growth of magnetic nanostructures, utilizing broadly synchrotron radiation and nanoscopic characterisation tools. The established methods will allow us to obtain on demand either magnetic nano-dots or magnetic nano-columns embedded in a semiconductor host, for which we predict, and will demonstrate, ground-breaking functionalities. We will also assess reports on the possibility of high-temperature ferromagnetism without magnetic ions.
Summary
Low-temperature studies of transition metal doped III-V and II-VI compounds carried out over the last decade have demonstrated the unprecedented opportunity offered by these systems for exploring physical phenomena and device concepts in previously unavailable combinations of quantum structures and ferromagnetism in semiconductors. The work proposed here aims at combining and at advancing epitaxial methods, spatially-resolved nano-characterisation tools, and theoretical modelling in order to understand the intricate interplay between carrier localisation, magnetism, and magnetic ion distribution in DMS, and to develop functional DMS structures. To accomplish these goals we will take advantage of two recent breakthroughs in materials engineering. First, the attainment of high-k oxides makes now possible to generate interfacial hole densities up to 10^21 cm-3. We will exploit gated thin layers of DMS phosphides, nitrides, and oxides, in which hole delocalization and thus high temperature ferromagnetism is to be expected under gate bias. Furthermore we will systematically investigate how the Curie temperature of (Ga,Mn)As can be risen above 180 K. Second, the progress in nanoscale chemical analysis has allowed demonstrating that high temperature ferromagnetism of semiconductors results from nanoscale crystallographic or chemical phase separations into regions containing a large concentration of the magnetic constituent. We will elaborate experimentally and theoretically epitaxy and co-doping protocols for controlling the self-organised growth of magnetic nanostructures, utilizing broadly synchrotron radiation and nanoscopic characterisation tools. The established methods will allow us to obtain on demand either magnetic nano-dots or magnetic nano-columns embedded in a semiconductor host, for which we predict, and will demonstrate, ground-breaking functionalities. We will also assess reports on the possibility of high-temperature ferromagnetism without magnetic ions.
Max ERC Funding
2 440 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym MaCChines
Project Molecular machines based on coiled-coil protein origami
Researcher (PI) Roman JERALA
Host Institution (HI) KEMIJSKI INSTITUT
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS9, ERC-2017-ADG
Summary Proteins are the most versatile and complex smart nanomaterials, forming molecular machines and performing numerous functions from structure building, recognition, catalysis to locomotion. Nature however explored only a tiny fraction of possible protein sequences and structures. Design of proteins with new, in nature unseen shapes and features, offers high rewards for medicine, technology and science. In 2013 my group pioneered the design of a new type of modular coiled-coil protein origami (CCPO) folds. This type of de novo designed proteins are defined by the sequence of coiled-coil (CC) dimer-forming modules that are concatenated by flexible linkers into a single polypeptide chain that self-assembles into a polyhedral cage based on pairwise CC interactions. This is in contrast to naturally evolved proteins where their fold is defined by a compact hydrophobic core. We recently demonstrated the robustness of this strategy by the largest de novo designed single chain protein, construction of tetrahedral, pyramid, trigonal prism and bipyramid cages that self-assemble in vivo.
This proposal builds on unique advantages of CCPOs and represents a new frontier of this branch of protein design science. I propose to introduce functional domains into selected positions of CCPO cages, implement new types of building modules that will enable regulated CCPO assembly and disassembly, test new strategies of caging and release of cargo molecules for targeted delivery, design knotted and crosslinked protein cages and introduce toehold displacement for the regulated structural rearrangement of CCPOs required for designed molecular machines, which will be demonstrated on protein nanotweezers. Technology for the positional combinatorial library-based single pot assembly of CCPO genes will provide high throughput of CCPO variants. Project will result in new methodology, understanding of potentials of CCPOs for designed molecular machines and in demonstration of different applications.
Summary
Proteins are the most versatile and complex smart nanomaterials, forming molecular machines and performing numerous functions from structure building, recognition, catalysis to locomotion. Nature however explored only a tiny fraction of possible protein sequences and structures. Design of proteins with new, in nature unseen shapes and features, offers high rewards for medicine, technology and science. In 2013 my group pioneered the design of a new type of modular coiled-coil protein origami (CCPO) folds. This type of de novo designed proteins are defined by the sequence of coiled-coil (CC) dimer-forming modules that are concatenated by flexible linkers into a single polypeptide chain that self-assembles into a polyhedral cage based on pairwise CC interactions. This is in contrast to naturally evolved proteins where their fold is defined by a compact hydrophobic core. We recently demonstrated the robustness of this strategy by the largest de novo designed single chain protein, construction of tetrahedral, pyramid, trigonal prism and bipyramid cages that self-assemble in vivo.
This proposal builds on unique advantages of CCPOs and represents a new frontier of this branch of protein design science. I propose to introduce functional domains into selected positions of CCPO cages, implement new types of building modules that will enable regulated CCPO assembly and disassembly, test new strategies of caging and release of cargo molecules for targeted delivery, design knotted and crosslinked protein cages and introduce toehold displacement for the regulated structural rearrangement of CCPOs required for designed molecular machines, which will be demonstrated on protein nanotweezers. Technology for the positional combinatorial library-based single pot assembly of CCPO genes will provide high throughput of CCPO variants. Project will result in new methodology, understanding of potentials of CCPOs for designed molecular machines and in demonstration of different applications.
Max ERC Funding
2 497 125 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-09-01, End date: 2023-08-31
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 OMNES
Project Open Many-body Non-Equilibrium Systems
Researcher (PI) Tomaz PROSEN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary We shall study non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems, considering local interactions in one or two spatial dimensions in situations where the generator of time evolution in the bulk of the system is unitary whereas the incoherent processes are limited to the system's boundaries. We foresee a mathematical theory of dynamical quantum phases of matter with applications in the theory of quantum transport and nanoscale devices that manipulate heat, information, charge or magnetization.
Our steady-state setup represents a fundamental paradigm of mathematical statistical physics which has been pioneered by the PI, who gave the first explicit solution for boundary driven/dissipative strongly interacting many-body problem (XXZ spin 1/2 chain) which answered a long debated question on strict positivity of the spin Drude weight at high temperature.
The main focus of OMNES will be centered on exploring the following three interconnected pathways: Most importantly, we shall develop a general framework for exact solutions of non-equilibrium integrable quantum many-body models, in particular the steady states and relaxation modes, and develop quantum integrability methods for non-equilibrium many-body density operators. Fundamentally new concepts which are expected to emerge from these studies, relevant beyond the context of boundary-driven/dissipative systems, are novel quasilocal conservation laws of the bulk Hamiltonian dynamics. Second, we shall investigate relevance of exact solutions in physics of generic systems which are small perturbations of integrable models and explore the problem of stability of local and quasilocal conserved quantities under generic integrability-breaking perturbations. Third, we shall formulate and study the problem of quantum chaos in clean lattice systems, in particular to establish a link between random matrix theory of level statistics and kinematic and dynamical features of lattice models with sufficiently strong integrability breaking.
Summary
We shall study non-equilibrium many-body quantum systems, considering local interactions in one or two spatial dimensions in situations where the generator of time evolution in the bulk of the system is unitary whereas the incoherent processes are limited to the system's boundaries. We foresee a mathematical theory of dynamical quantum phases of matter with applications in the theory of quantum transport and nanoscale devices that manipulate heat, information, charge or magnetization.
Our steady-state setup represents a fundamental paradigm of mathematical statistical physics which has been pioneered by the PI, who gave the first explicit solution for boundary driven/dissipative strongly interacting many-body problem (XXZ spin 1/2 chain) which answered a long debated question on strict positivity of the spin Drude weight at high temperature.
The main focus of OMNES will be centered on exploring the following three interconnected pathways: Most importantly, we shall develop a general framework for exact solutions of non-equilibrium integrable quantum many-body models, in particular the steady states and relaxation modes, and develop quantum integrability methods for non-equilibrium many-body density operators. Fundamentally new concepts which are expected to emerge from these studies, relevant beyond the context of boundary-driven/dissipative systems, are novel quasilocal conservation laws of the bulk Hamiltonian dynamics. Second, we shall investigate relevance of exact solutions in physics of generic systems which are small perturbations of integrable models and explore the problem of stability of local and quasilocal conserved quantities under generic integrability-breaking perturbations. Third, we shall formulate and study the problem of quantum chaos in clean lattice systems, in particular to establish a link between random matrix theory of level statistics and kinematic and dynamical features of lattice models with sufficiently strong integrability breaking.
Max ERC Funding
2 041 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym QOLAPS
Project Quantum resources: conceptuals and applications
Researcher (PI) Ryszard Horodecki
Host Institution (HI) UNIWERSYTET GDANSKI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2011-ADG_20110209
Summary "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."
Summary
"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."
Max ERC Funding
1 970 380 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym TRAJECTORY
Project Coherent trajectories through symmetry breaking transitions
Researcher (PI) Dragan Mihailovic
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT JOZEF STEFAN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE3, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary We propose to investigate the coherent trajectories of many-body systems undergoing symmetry-breaking transitions (SBTs) in real time, where trajectories are meant here in a mathematical sense used to describe the dynamics of nonlinear systems. The key idea which makes this project possible is the development of a specific femtosecond laser spectroscopy technique which allows us to distinguish the order parameter dynamics in complex matter systems from hot-electron energy relaxation, quasiparticle recombination processes, damping and dephasing of coherent phonon oscillations. This allows real-time high resolution investigations of the critical system trajectories through SBTs, beyond the capabilities of current state of the art time-resolved techniques. We will investigate coherent collective field oscillations and the fundamentals of topological defect creation by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism including a study of their annihilation in the aftermath of SBTs. We will aim to control the coherent trajectories at bifurcation points by laser pulses and external fields. We will address fundamental questions on the effect of symmetry and fundamental interactions of underlying microscopic vacua on global behaviour. Systems included in our study belong to a number of different universality classes and include the study of nontrivial transitions to newly discovered hidden states of matter. In the general framework of reductionism, we expect our findings to have fundamental bearing on our understanding of SBTs revealing predictive tell-tale signatures of critical events of relevance in areas beyond many-body condensed matter physics, in elementary particle physics, primordial cosmological events and tipping points in nonlinear systems. Transition trajectories to and from hidden states are of particular interest for practical applications in new femtosecond state change memory devices.
Summary
We propose to investigate the coherent trajectories of many-body systems undergoing symmetry-breaking transitions (SBTs) in real time, where trajectories are meant here in a mathematical sense used to describe the dynamics of nonlinear systems. The key idea which makes this project possible is the development of a specific femtosecond laser spectroscopy technique which allows us to distinguish the order parameter dynamics in complex matter systems from hot-electron energy relaxation, quasiparticle recombination processes, damping and dephasing of coherent phonon oscillations. This allows real-time high resolution investigations of the critical system trajectories through SBTs, beyond the capabilities of current state of the art time-resolved techniques. We will investigate coherent collective field oscillations and the fundamentals of topological defect creation by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism including a study of their annihilation in the aftermath of SBTs. We will aim to control the coherent trajectories at bifurcation points by laser pulses and external fields. We will address fundamental questions on the effect of symmetry and fundamental interactions of underlying microscopic vacua on global behaviour. Systems included in our study belong to a number of different universality classes and include the study of nontrivial transitions to newly discovered hidden states of matter. In the general framework of reductionism, we expect our findings to have fundamental bearing on our understanding of SBTs revealing predictive tell-tale signatures of critical events of relevance in areas beyond many-body condensed matter physics, in elementary particle physics, primordial cosmological events and tipping points in nonlinear systems. Transition trajectories to and from hidden states are of particular interest for practical applications in new femtosecond state change memory devices.
Max ERC Funding
1 503 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-05-01, End date: 2018-04-30
