Project acronym ARIADNE
Project ARgon ImAging DetectioN chambEr
Researcher (PI) Konstantinos Mavrokoridis
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary This proposal outlines a plan to combine Charge Couple Device (CCD) camera technologies with two-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr TPCs) utilising THick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEMs) to evolve a next generation neutrino detector. This will be an entirely new readout option, and will open the prospect of revolutionary discoveries in fundamental particle physics. Furthermore, the Compton imaging power of this technology will be developed, which will have diverse applications in novel medical imaging techniques and detection of concealed nuclear materials.
Colossal LAr TPCs are the future for long-baseline-neutrino-oscillation physics around which the international neutrino community is rallying, with the common goal of discovering new physics beyond the Standard Model, which holds the key to our understanding of phenomena such as dark matter and the matter-antimatter asymmetry.
I have successfully provided a first demonstration of photographic capturing of muon tracks and single gammas interacting in the Liverpool 40 l LAr TPC using a CCD camera and THGEM. I propose an ambitious project of extensive research to mature this innovative LAr optical readout technology. I will construct a 650 l LAr TPC with integrated CCD/THGEM readout, capable of containing sufficient tracking information for full development and characterisation of this novel detector, with the goal of realising this game-changing technology in the planned future giant LAr TPCs. Camera readout can replace the current charge readout technology and associated scalability complications, and the excellent energy thresholds will enhance detector performance as well as extend research avenues to lower energy fundamental physics.
Also, I will explore the Compton imaging capability of LAr CCD/THGEM technology; the superiority of the energy threshold and spatial resolution of this system can offer significant advancement to medical imaging and the detection of concealed nuclear materials.
Summary
This proposal outlines a plan to combine Charge Couple Device (CCD) camera technologies with two-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr TPCs) utilising THick Gas Electron Multipliers (THGEMs) to evolve a next generation neutrino detector. This will be an entirely new readout option, and will open the prospect of revolutionary discoveries in fundamental particle physics. Furthermore, the Compton imaging power of this technology will be developed, which will have diverse applications in novel medical imaging techniques and detection of concealed nuclear materials.
Colossal LAr TPCs are the future for long-baseline-neutrino-oscillation physics around which the international neutrino community is rallying, with the common goal of discovering new physics beyond the Standard Model, which holds the key to our understanding of phenomena such as dark matter and the matter-antimatter asymmetry.
I have successfully provided a first demonstration of photographic capturing of muon tracks and single gammas interacting in the Liverpool 40 l LAr TPC using a CCD camera and THGEM. I propose an ambitious project of extensive research to mature this innovative LAr optical readout technology. I will construct a 650 l LAr TPC with integrated CCD/THGEM readout, capable of containing sufficient tracking information for full development and characterisation of this novel detector, with the goal of realising this game-changing technology in the planned future giant LAr TPCs. Camera readout can replace the current charge readout technology and associated scalability complications, and the excellent energy thresholds will enhance detector performance as well as extend research avenues to lower energy fundamental physics.
Also, I will explore the Compton imaging capability of LAr CCD/THGEM technology; the superiority of the energy threshold and spatial resolution of this system can offer significant advancement to medical imaging and the detection of concealed nuclear materials.
Max ERC Funding
1 837 911 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-03-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym ASTRUm
Project Astrophysics with Stored Highy Charged Radionuclides
Researcher (PI) Yury Litvinov
Host Institution (HI) GSI HELMHOLTZZENTRUM FUER SCHWERIONENFORSCHUNG GMBH
Country Germany
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary The main goal of ASTRUm is to employ stored and cooled radioactive ions for forefront nuclear astrophysics research. Four key experiments are proposed to be conducted at GSI in Darmstadt, which holds the only facility to date capable of storing highly charged radionuclides in the required element and energy range. The proposed experiments can hardly be conducted by any other technique or method.
The weak decay matrix element for the transition between the 2.3 keV state in 205Pb and the ground state of 205Tl will be measured via the bound state beta decay measurement of fully ionized 205Tl81+. This will provide the required data to determine the solar pp-neutrino flux integrated over the last 5 million years and will allow us to unveil the astrophysical conditions prior to the formation of the solar system.
The measurements of the alpha-decay width of the 4.033 MeV excited state in 19Ne will allow us to constrain the conditions for the ignition of the rp-process in X-ray bursters.
ASTRUm will open a new field by enabling for the first time measurements of proton- and alpha-capture reaction cross-sections on radioactive nuclei of interest for the p-process of nucleosynthesis.
Last but not least, broad band mass and half-life measurements in a ring is the only technique to precisely determine these key nuclear properties for nuclei with half-lives as short as a millisecond and production rates of below one ion per day.
To accomplish these measurements with highest efficiency, sensitivity and precision, improved detector systems will be developed within ASTRUm. Possible applications of these systems go beyond ASTRUm objectives and will be used in particular in accelerator physics.
The instrumentation and experience gained within ASTRUm will be indispensable for planning the future, next generation storage ring projects, which are launched or proposed at several radioactive ion beam facilities.
Summary
The main goal of ASTRUm is to employ stored and cooled radioactive ions for forefront nuclear astrophysics research. Four key experiments are proposed to be conducted at GSI in Darmstadt, which holds the only facility to date capable of storing highly charged radionuclides in the required element and energy range. The proposed experiments can hardly be conducted by any other technique or method.
The weak decay matrix element for the transition between the 2.3 keV state in 205Pb and the ground state of 205Tl will be measured via the bound state beta decay measurement of fully ionized 205Tl81+. This will provide the required data to determine the solar pp-neutrino flux integrated over the last 5 million years and will allow us to unveil the astrophysical conditions prior to the formation of the solar system.
The measurements of the alpha-decay width of the 4.033 MeV excited state in 19Ne will allow us to constrain the conditions for the ignition of the rp-process in X-ray bursters.
ASTRUm will open a new field by enabling for the first time measurements of proton- and alpha-capture reaction cross-sections on radioactive nuclei of interest for the p-process of nucleosynthesis.
Last but not least, broad band mass and half-life measurements in a ring is the only technique to precisely determine these key nuclear properties for nuclei with half-lives as short as a millisecond and production rates of below one ion per day.
To accomplish these measurements with highest efficiency, sensitivity and precision, improved detector systems will be developed within ASTRUm. Possible applications of these systems go beyond ASTRUm objectives and will be used in particular in accelerator physics.
The instrumentation and experience gained within ASTRUm will be indispensable for planning the future, next generation storage ring projects, which are launched or proposed at several radioactive ion beam facilities.
Max ERC Funding
1 874 750 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym BrainBIT
Project All-optical brain-to-brain behaviour and information transfer
Researcher (PI) Francesco PAVONE
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE
Country Italy
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Exchange of information between different brains usually takes place through the interaction between bodies and the external environment. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a novel paradigm of brain-to-brain communication based on direct full-optical recording and controlled stimulation of neuronal activity in different subjects. To pursue this challenging objective, we propose to develop optical technologies well beyond the state of the art for simultaneous neuronal “reading” and “writing” across large volumes and with high spatial and temporal resolution, targeted to the transfer of advantageous behaviour in physiological and pathological conditions.
We will perform whole-brain high-resolution imaging in zebrafish larvae to disentangle the activity patterns related to different tasks. We will then use these patterns as stimulation templates in other larvae to investigate spatio-temporal subject-invariant signatures of specific behavioural states. This ‘pump and probe’ strategy will allow gaining deep insights into the complex relationship between neuronal activity and subject behaviour.
To move towards clinics-oriented studies on brain stimulation therapies, we will complement whole-brain experiments in zebrafish with large area functional imaging and optostimulation in mammals. We will investigate all-optical brain-to-brain information transfer to boost an advantageous behaviour, i.e. motor recovery, in a mouse model of stroke. Mice showing more effective responses to rehabilitation will provide neuronal activity templates to be elicited in other animals, in order to increase rehabilitation efficiency.
We strongly believe that the implementation of new technologies for all-optical transfer of behaviour between different subjects will offer unprecedented views of neuronal activity in healthy and injured brain, paving the way to more effective brain stimulation therapies.
Summary
Exchange of information between different brains usually takes place through the interaction between bodies and the external environment. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a novel paradigm of brain-to-brain communication based on direct full-optical recording and controlled stimulation of neuronal activity in different subjects. To pursue this challenging objective, we propose to develop optical technologies well beyond the state of the art for simultaneous neuronal “reading” and “writing” across large volumes and with high spatial and temporal resolution, targeted to the transfer of advantageous behaviour in physiological and pathological conditions.
We will perform whole-brain high-resolution imaging in zebrafish larvae to disentangle the activity patterns related to different tasks. We will then use these patterns as stimulation templates in other larvae to investigate spatio-temporal subject-invariant signatures of specific behavioural states. This ‘pump and probe’ strategy will allow gaining deep insights into the complex relationship between neuronal activity and subject behaviour.
To move towards clinics-oriented studies on brain stimulation therapies, we will complement whole-brain experiments in zebrafish with large area functional imaging and optostimulation in mammals. We will investigate all-optical brain-to-brain information transfer to boost an advantageous behaviour, i.e. motor recovery, in a mouse model of stroke. Mice showing more effective responses to rehabilitation will provide neuronal activity templates to be elicited in other animals, in order to increase rehabilitation efficiency.
We strongly believe that the implementation of new technologies for all-optical transfer of behaviour between different subjects will offer unprecedented views of neuronal activity in healthy and injured brain, paving the way to more effective brain stimulation therapies.
Max ERC Funding
2 370 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-12-01, End date: 2022-05-31
Project acronym CGCglasmaQGP
Project The nonlinear high energy regime of Quantum Chromodynamics
Researcher (PI) Tuomas Veli Valtteri Lappi
Host Institution (HI) JYVASKYLAN YLIOPISTO
Country Finland
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE2, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary "This proposal concentrates on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) in its least well understood "final frontier": the high energy limit. The aim is to treat the formation of quark gluon plasma in relativistic nuclear collisions together with other high energy processes in a consistent QCD framework. This project is topical now in order to fully understand the results from the maturing LHC heavy ion program. The high energy regime is characterized by a high density of gluons, whose nonlinear interactions are beyond the reach of simple perturbative calculations. High energy particles also propagate nearly on the light cone, unaccessible to Euclidean lattice calculations. The nonlinear interactions at high density lead to the phenomenon of gluon saturation. The emergence of the "saturation scale", a semihard typical transverse momentum, enables a weak coupling expansion around a nonperturbatively large color field. This project aims to make progress both in collider phenomenology and in more conceptual aspects of nonabelian gauge field dynamics at high energy density:
1. Significant advances towards higher order accuracy will be made in cross section calculations for processes where a dilute probe collides with the strong color field of a high energy nucleus.
2. The quantum fluctuations around the strong color fields in the initial stages of a relativistic heavy ion collision will be analyzed with a new numerical method based on an explicit linearization of the equations of motion, maintaining a well defined weak coupling limit.
3. Initial conditions for fluid dynamical descriptions of the quark gluon plasma phase in heavy ion collisions will be obtained from a constrained QCD calculation.
We propose to achieve these goals with modern analytical and numerical methods, on which the P.I. is a leading expert. This project would represent a leap in the field towards better quantitative first principles understanding of QCD in a new kinematical domain."
Summary
"This proposal concentrates on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) in its least well understood "final frontier": the high energy limit. The aim is to treat the formation of quark gluon plasma in relativistic nuclear collisions together with other high energy processes in a consistent QCD framework. This project is topical now in order to fully understand the results from the maturing LHC heavy ion program. The high energy regime is characterized by a high density of gluons, whose nonlinear interactions are beyond the reach of simple perturbative calculations. High energy particles also propagate nearly on the light cone, unaccessible to Euclidean lattice calculations. The nonlinear interactions at high density lead to the phenomenon of gluon saturation. The emergence of the "saturation scale", a semihard typical transverse momentum, enables a weak coupling expansion around a nonperturbatively large color field. This project aims to make progress both in collider phenomenology and in more conceptual aspects of nonabelian gauge field dynamics at high energy density:
1. Significant advances towards higher order accuracy will be made in cross section calculations for processes where a dilute probe collides with the strong color field of a high energy nucleus.
2. The quantum fluctuations around the strong color fields in the initial stages of a relativistic heavy ion collision will be analyzed with a new numerical method based on an explicit linearization of the equations of motion, maintaining a well defined weak coupling limit.
3. Initial conditions for fluid dynamical descriptions of the quark gluon plasma phase in heavy ion collisions will be obtained from a constrained QCD calculation.
We propose to achieve these goals with modern analytical and numerical methods, on which the P.I. is a leading expert. This project would represent a leap in the field towards better quantitative first principles understanding of QCD in a new kinematical domain."
Max ERC Funding
1 935 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym CHROMIUM
Project CHROMIUM
Researcher (PI) Jennifer THOMAS
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Why the Universe is void of anti-matter is one of the remaining Big Questions in Science.One explanation is provided within the Standard Model by violation of Charge Parity (CP) symmetry, producing differences between the behavior of particles and their anti-particles.CP violation in the neutrino sector could allow a mechanism by which the matter-anti matter asymmetry arose.The objective of this proposal is to enable a step change in our sensitivity to CP violation in the neutrino sector. I have pioneered the concepts and led the deployment of a small prototype using a novel approach which could eventually lead to the construction of a revolutionary Mega-ton scale Water Cherenkov (WC) neutrino detector.The goal of my research program is to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach via the construction of an intermediate sized prototype with an expandable fiducial mass of up to 10-20kt. It will use a low-cost and lightweight structure, filled with purified water and submerged for mechanical strength and cosmic ray shielding in a 60m deep flooded mine pit in the path of Fermilab’s NuMI neutrino beam in N. Minnesota.The European contribution to this experiment will be profound and definitive.Applying the idea of fast timing and good position resolution of small photodetectors, already pioneered in Europe, in place of large-area photodetector, we will revolutionize WC design.The game-changing nature of this philosophy will be demonstrated via the proof of the detector construction and the observation of electron neutrino events form the NuMI beam.The successful completion of this R&D program will demonstrate a factor of up to 100 decrease in cost compared to conventional detectors and the proof that precision neutrino measurements could be made inside a few years rather than the presently needed decades.
The project describes a five year program of work amounting to a total funding request of €3.5M, including an extra €1M of equipment funds.
Summary
Why the Universe is void of anti-matter is one of the remaining Big Questions in Science.One explanation is provided within the Standard Model by violation of Charge Parity (CP) symmetry, producing differences between the behavior of particles and their anti-particles.CP violation in the neutrino sector could allow a mechanism by which the matter-anti matter asymmetry arose.The objective of this proposal is to enable a step change in our sensitivity to CP violation in the neutrino sector. I have pioneered the concepts and led the deployment of a small prototype using a novel approach which could eventually lead to the construction of a revolutionary Mega-ton scale Water Cherenkov (WC) neutrino detector.The goal of my research program is to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach via the construction of an intermediate sized prototype with an expandable fiducial mass of up to 10-20kt. It will use a low-cost and lightweight structure, filled with purified water and submerged for mechanical strength and cosmic ray shielding in a 60m deep flooded mine pit in the path of Fermilab’s NuMI neutrino beam in N. Minnesota.The European contribution to this experiment will be profound and definitive.Applying the idea of fast timing and good position resolution of small photodetectors, already pioneered in Europe, in place of large-area photodetector, we will revolutionize WC design.The game-changing nature of this philosophy will be demonstrated via the proof of the detector construction and the observation of electron neutrino events form the NuMI beam.The successful completion of this R&D program will demonstrate a factor of up to 100 decrease in cost compared to conventional detectors and the proof that precision neutrino measurements could be made inside a few years rather than the presently needed decades.
The project describes a five year program of work amounting to a total funding request of €3.5M, including an extra €1M of equipment funds.
Max ERC Funding
3 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30
Project acronym Dark-OsT
Project Experimental Searches for Oscillating and Transient effects from the Dark Sector
Researcher (PI) Dmitry Budker
Host Institution (HI) JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ
Country Germany
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary The objective of the proposed project is to pioneer a magnetometry-based experimental framework for the detection of time-varying signatures of the ‘dark sector’. This novel approach will enable systematic searches for particles contributing to the dark matter and for dark-energy components.
The nature of dark matter and that of dark energy are among the central open problems in modern physics. There are only few experimental bounds and so far no conclusive observations of dark-sector particles or fields. Experiments enabling a direct coupling to the dark sector and thus a systematic search for and study of the contributing particles and fields would open up new vistas for areas ranging from particle physics to astrophysics and cosmology, and would in particular provide insights into the physics beyond the Standard Model.
Here, we propose a framework for such experimental searches based on high-precision magnetometers, and networks thereof. Our approach is distinct from existing efforts in two ways. First, it will enable searches for so-far unexplored couplings to ultra-light bosonic particles present in the Universe that could be components of dark matter and/or dark energy, in particular axions and axion-like particles (ALPs). Second, we will develop and use devices and methods tailored to search for oscillating and transient, rather than time-independent, effects. Specifically, we will use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for detecting spin precession caused by background axion and ALP dark matter, and geographically separated magnetometers for identify transient effects, such as crossing domain walls of ALP fields, which have been proposed as a possible dark-energy component.
The devices and methods developed in the framework of this project will provide the essential components for unique searches for a broad class of dark-matter and dark-energy candidates and might enable the key experiments to understanding the dark sector.
Summary
The objective of the proposed project is to pioneer a magnetometry-based experimental framework for the detection of time-varying signatures of the ‘dark sector’. This novel approach will enable systematic searches for particles contributing to the dark matter and for dark-energy components.
The nature of dark matter and that of dark energy are among the central open problems in modern physics. There are only few experimental bounds and so far no conclusive observations of dark-sector particles or fields. Experiments enabling a direct coupling to the dark sector and thus a systematic search for and study of the contributing particles and fields would open up new vistas for areas ranging from particle physics to astrophysics and cosmology, and would in particular provide insights into the physics beyond the Standard Model.
Here, we propose a framework for such experimental searches based on high-precision magnetometers, and networks thereof. Our approach is distinct from existing efforts in two ways. First, it will enable searches for so-far unexplored couplings to ultra-light bosonic particles present in the Universe that could be components of dark matter and/or dark energy, in particular axions and axion-like particles (ALPs). Second, we will develop and use devices and methods tailored to search for oscillating and transient, rather than time-independent, effects. Specifically, we will use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for detecting spin precession caused by background axion and ALP dark matter, and geographically separated magnetometers for identify transient effects, such as crossing domain walls of ALP fields, which have been proposed as a possible dark-energy component.
The devices and methods developed in the framework of this project will provide the essential components for unique searches for a broad class of dark-matter and dark-energy candidates and might enable the key experiments to understanding the dark sector.
Max ERC Funding
2 474 875 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-08-01, End date: 2021-07-31
Project acronym DARKJETS
Project Discovery strategies for Dark Matter and new phenomena in hadronic signatures with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider
Researcher (PI) Caterina Doglioni
Host Institution (HI) LUNDS UNIVERSITET
Country Sweden
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The Standard Model of Particle Physics describes the fundamental components of ordinary matter and their interactions. Despite its success in predicting many experimental results, the Standard Model fails to account for a number of interesting phenomena. One phenomenon of particular interest is the large excess of unobservable (Dark) matter in the Universe. This excess cannot be explained by Standard Model particles. A compelling hypothesis is that Dark Matter is comprised of particles that can be produced in the proton-proton collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Within this project, I will build a team of researchers at Lund University dedicated to searches for signals of the presence of Dark Matter particles. The discovery strategies employed seek the decays of particles that either mediate the interactions between Dark and Standard Model particles or are produced in association with Dark Matter. These new particles manifest in detectors as two, three, or four collimated jets of particles (hadronic jets).
The LHC will resume delivery of proton-proton collisions to the ATLAS detector in 2015. Searches for new, rare, low mass particles such as Dark Matter mediators have so far been hindered by constraints on the rates of data that can be stored. These constraints will be overcome through the implementation of a novel real-time data analysis technique and a new search signature, both introduced to ATLAS by this project. The coincidence of this project with the upcoming LHC runs and the software and hardware improvements within the ATLAS detector is a unique opportunity to increase the sensitivity to hadronically decaying new particles by a large margin with respect to any previous searches. The results of these searches will be interpreted within a comprehensive and coherent set of theoretical benchmarks, highlighting the strengths of collider experiments in the global quest for Dark Matter.
Summary
The Standard Model of Particle Physics describes the fundamental components of ordinary matter and their interactions. Despite its success in predicting many experimental results, the Standard Model fails to account for a number of interesting phenomena. One phenomenon of particular interest is the large excess of unobservable (Dark) matter in the Universe. This excess cannot be explained by Standard Model particles. A compelling hypothesis is that Dark Matter is comprised of particles that can be produced in the proton-proton collisions from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Within this project, I will build a team of researchers at Lund University dedicated to searches for signals of the presence of Dark Matter particles. The discovery strategies employed seek the decays of particles that either mediate the interactions between Dark and Standard Model particles or are produced in association with Dark Matter. These new particles manifest in detectors as two, three, or four collimated jets of particles (hadronic jets).
The LHC will resume delivery of proton-proton collisions to the ATLAS detector in 2015. Searches for new, rare, low mass particles such as Dark Matter mediators have so far been hindered by constraints on the rates of data that can be stored. These constraints will be overcome through the implementation of a novel real-time data analysis technique and a new search signature, both introduced to ATLAS by this project. The coincidence of this project with the upcoming LHC runs and the software and hardware improvements within the ATLAS detector is a unique opportunity to increase the sensitivity to hadronically decaying new particles by a large margin with respect to any previous searches. The results of these searches will be interpreted within a comprehensive and coherent set of theoretical benchmarks, highlighting the strengths of collider experiments in the global quest for Dark Matter.
Max ERC Funding
1 268 076 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-02-01, End date: 2021-07-31
Project acronym DG-PESP-CS
Project Deterministic Generation of Polarization Entangled single Photons Cluster States
Researcher (PI) David Gershoni
Host Institution (HI) TECHNION - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Country Israel
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE2, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Measurement based quantum computing is one of the most fault-tolerant architectures proposed for quantum information processing. It opens the possibility of performing quantum computing tasks using linear optical systems. An efficient route for measurement based quantum computing utilizes highly entangled states of photons, called cluster states. Propagation and processing quantum information is made possible this way using only single qubit measurements. It is highly resilient to qubit losses. In addition, single qubit measurements of polarization qubits is easily performed with high fidelity using standard optical tools. These features make photonic clusters excellent platforms for quantum information processing.
Constructing photonic cluster states, however, is a formidable challenge, attracting vast amounts of research efforts. While in principle it is possible to build up cluster states using interferometry, such a method is of a probabilistic nature and entails a large overhead of resources. The use of entangled photon pairs reduces this overhead by a small factor only.
We outline a novel route for constructing a deterministic source of photonic cluster states using a device based on semiconductor quantum dot. Our proposal follows a suggestion by Lindner and Rudolph. We use repeated optical excitations of a long lived coherent spin confined in a single semiconductor quantum dot and demonstrate for the first time practical realization of their proposal. Our preliminary demonstration presents a breakthrough in quantum technology since deterministic source of photonic cluster, reduces the resources needed quantum information processing. It may have revolutionary prospects for technological applications as well as to our fundamental understanding of quantum systems.
We propose to capitalize on this recent breakthrough and concentrate on R&D which will further advance this forefront field of science and technology by utilizing the horizons that it opens.
Summary
Measurement based quantum computing is one of the most fault-tolerant architectures proposed for quantum information processing. It opens the possibility of performing quantum computing tasks using linear optical systems. An efficient route for measurement based quantum computing utilizes highly entangled states of photons, called cluster states. Propagation and processing quantum information is made possible this way using only single qubit measurements. It is highly resilient to qubit losses. In addition, single qubit measurements of polarization qubits is easily performed with high fidelity using standard optical tools. These features make photonic clusters excellent platforms for quantum information processing.
Constructing photonic cluster states, however, is a formidable challenge, attracting vast amounts of research efforts. While in principle it is possible to build up cluster states using interferometry, such a method is of a probabilistic nature and entails a large overhead of resources. The use of entangled photon pairs reduces this overhead by a small factor only.
We outline a novel route for constructing a deterministic source of photonic cluster states using a device based on semiconductor quantum dot. Our proposal follows a suggestion by Lindner and Rudolph. We use repeated optical excitations of a long lived coherent spin confined in a single semiconductor quantum dot and demonstrate for the first time practical realization of their proposal. Our preliminary demonstration presents a breakthrough in quantum technology since deterministic source of photonic cluster, reduces the resources needed quantum information processing. It may have revolutionary prospects for technological applications as well as to our fundamental understanding of quantum systems.
We propose to capitalize on this recent breakthrough and concentrate on R&D which will further advance this forefront field of science and technology by utilizing the horizons that it opens.
Max ERC Funding
2 502 974 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym DoRES
Project Direct measurements of key nuclear Reactions for the creation of Elements in Stars
Researcher (PI) Claudia Lederer
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Country United Kingdom
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary The evolution of the universe has left an imprint in the form of the chemical elements. Understanding the cosmic origins of the elements remains a major challenge for science. The abundances of elements we see in our solar system, distant stars, meteorites, and in stellar explosions provide us with clues about how the elements came to be produced in a variety of different processes and stellar environments. To unravel these mysteries we need to understand the nuclear reactions producing and destroying the elements. New generation accelerator facilities and instrumentation are being developed in Europe which will enable many of these reactions to be measured directly for the first time, and with high precision. This offers the prospect of a major step forward in the field in the next few years. Many of the key reactions involve unstable nuclei, studied experimentally either by using radioactive beams or targets. These unstable nuclei play a critical role in high temperature stellar environments, most notably stellar explosions. Reactions can occur on the unstable nucleus before it has decayed thereby strongly altering the path of subsequent element synthesis. The proposal is sub-divided into 5 themes, concerning production of the heavy elements in neutron capture reactions, destruction of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter 26Al in core collapse supernovae, neutron source reactions in stars, the puzzle of high abundances of proton-rich heavy isotopes, and the origin of nature’s least abundant isotope 180mTa. Experiments will initially be performed using neutron beams from the upgraded n_TOF facility at CERN including the high flux EAR-2 beam line, and using radioactive beams from the upgraded HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. In the later phase of the proposal experiments will also be performed using the new ultra-high intensity neutron beam facility FRANZ at Frankfurt, and with radioactive beams injected into heavy ion storage rings to be installed at GSI and CERN.
Summary
The evolution of the universe has left an imprint in the form of the chemical elements. Understanding the cosmic origins of the elements remains a major challenge for science. The abundances of elements we see in our solar system, distant stars, meteorites, and in stellar explosions provide us with clues about how the elements came to be produced in a variety of different processes and stellar environments. To unravel these mysteries we need to understand the nuclear reactions producing and destroying the elements. New generation accelerator facilities and instrumentation are being developed in Europe which will enable many of these reactions to be measured directly for the first time, and with high precision. This offers the prospect of a major step forward in the field in the next few years. Many of the key reactions involve unstable nuclei, studied experimentally either by using radioactive beams or targets. These unstable nuclei play a critical role in high temperature stellar environments, most notably stellar explosions. Reactions can occur on the unstable nucleus before it has decayed thereby strongly altering the path of subsequent element synthesis. The proposal is sub-divided into 5 themes, concerning production of the heavy elements in neutron capture reactions, destruction of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter 26Al in core collapse supernovae, neutron source reactions in stars, the puzzle of high abundances of proton-rich heavy isotopes, and the origin of nature’s least abundant isotope 180mTa. Experiments will initially be performed using neutron beams from the upgraded n_TOF facility at CERN including the high flux EAR-2 beam line, and using radioactive beams from the upgraded HIE-ISOLDE facility at CERN. In the later phase of the proposal experiments will also be performed using the new ultra-high intensity neutron beam facility FRANZ at Frankfurt, and with radioactive beams injected into heavy ion storage rings to be installed at GSI and CERN.
Max ERC Funding
1 495 479 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym DYNAMIQS
Project Relaxation dynamics in closed quantum systems
Researcher (PI) Marc Cheneau
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Country France
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Statistical mechanics, a century-old theory, is probably one of the most powerful constructions of physics. It predicts that the equilibrium properties of any system composed of a large number of particles depend only on a handful of macroscopic parameters, no matter how the particles interact with each other. But the question of how many-body systems relax towards such equilibrium states remains largely unsolved. This problem is especially acute for quantum systems, which evolve in a much larger mathematical space than the classical space-time and obey non-local equations of motion. Despite the formidable complexity of quantum dynamics, recent theoretical advances have put forward a very simple picture: the dynamics of closed quantum many-body systems would be essentially local, meaning that it would take a finite time for correlations between two distant regions of space to reach their equilibrium value. This locality would be an emergent collective property, similar to spontaneous symmetry breaking, and have its origin in the propagation of quasiparticle excitations. The fact is, however, that only few observations directly confirm this scenario. In particular, the role played by the dimensionality and the interaction range is largely unknown. The concept of this project is to take advantage of the great versatility offered by ultracold atom systems to investigate experimentally the relaxation dynamics in regimes well beyond the boundaries of our current knowledge. We will focus our attention on two-dimensional systems with both short- and long-range interactions, when all previous experiments were bound to one-dimensional systems. The realisation of the project will hinge on the construction on a new-generation quantum gas microscope experiment for strontium gases. Amongst the innovative techniques that we will implement is the electronic state hybridisation with Rydberg states, called Rydberg dressing.
Summary
Statistical mechanics, a century-old theory, is probably one of the most powerful constructions of physics. It predicts that the equilibrium properties of any system composed of a large number of particles depend only on a handful of macroscopic parameters, no matter how the particles interact with each other. But the question of how many-body systems relax towards such equilibrium states remains largely unsolved. This problem is especially acute for quantum systems, which evolve in a much larger mathematical space than the classical space-time and obey non-local equations of motion. Despite the formidable complexity of quantum dynamics, recent theoretical advances have put forward a very simple picture: the dynamics of closed quantum many-body systems would be essentially local, meaning that it would take a finite time for correlations between two distant regions of space to reach their equilibrium value. This locality would be an emergent collective property, similar to spontaneous symmetry breaking, and have its origin in the propagation of quasiparticle excitations. The fact is, however, that only few observations directly confirm this scenario. In particular, the role played by the dimensionality and the interaction range is largely unknown. The concept of this project is to take advantage of the great versatility offered by ultracold atom systems to investigate experimentally the relaxation dynamics in regimes well beyond the boundaries of our current knowledge. We will focus our attention on two-dimensional systems with both short- and long-range interactions, when all previous experiments were bound to one-dimensional systems. The realisation of the project will hinge on the construction on a new-generation quantum gas microscope experiment for strontium gases. Amongst the innovative techniques that we will implement is the electronic state hybridisation with Rydberg states, called Rydberg dressing.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-05-01, End date: 2022-04-30
