Project acronym OTTOCONFESSION
Project The Fashioning of a Sunni Orthodoxy and the Entangled Histories of Confession-Building in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire, 15th-17th Centuries
Researcher (PI) Tijana Krstic
Host Institution (HI) KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary "How and why did the Ottoman Empire evolve from a fourteenth-century polity where ""confessional ambiguity"" between Sunnism and Shiism prevailed into an Islamic state concerned with defining and enforcing a ""Sunni orthodoxy"" by the early sixteenth century? Recent historiography attributes this new concern with ""orthodoxy"" in the Ottoman Empire to the rise of the rival Shii Safavid Empire at the turn of the sixteenth century. However, the OTTOCONFESSION project is based on the premise that the evolution of Ottoman discourse on Sunni orthodoxy can be understood only in a longer perspective that spans the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that it was shaped by religio-political dynamics not only in the Safavid Empire but also within the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire and in Europe as well.
The project sets out to demonstrate that although the polarization between Sunni and Shii Islam on the one hand, and Catholic and Protestant Christianity on the other, resulted from the dynamics specific to the Turco-Iranian world and Europe, respectively, the subsequent processes of confession- (and in come cases state-) building were related and constitute an entangled history of confessionalization that spanned Europe and the Middle East. This entanglement resulted in particular from: the Ottomans' concomitant competition with the Safavids, Habsburgs, and Venetians, and the shared political theologies this entailed; the spread of various Muslim and Christian communities across imperial borders; and the Ottomans' permissiveness towards Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist missionary activities among the Empire's (mostly Orthodox) Christians. The project will investigate the evolution of the confessional discourses in the Ottoman Empire in both community-specific and entangled, cross-communal perspectives between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries by focusing on a) agents and strategies; b) textual genres; and c) sites of confessionalization."
Summary
"How and why did the Ottoman Empire evolve from a fourteenth-century polity where ""confessional ambiguity"" between Sunnism and Shiism prevailed into an Islamic state concerned with defining and enforcing a ""Sunni orthodoxy"" by the early sixteenth century? Recent historiography attributes this new concern with ""orthodoxy"" in the Ottoman Empire to the rise of the rival Shii Safavid Empire at the turn of the sixteenth century. However, the OTTOCONFESSION project is based on the premise that the evolution of Ottoman discourse on Sunni orthodoxy can be understood only in a longer perspective that spans the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that it was shaped by religio-political dynamics not only in the Safavid Empire but also within the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire and in Europe as well.
The project sets out to demonstrate that although the polarization between Sunni and Shii Islam on the one hand, and Catholic and Protestant Christianity on the other, resulted from the dynamics specific to the Turco-Iranian world and Europe, respectively, the subsequent processes of confession- (and in come cases state-) building were related and constitute an entangled history of confessionalization that spanned Europe and the Middle East. This entanglement resulted in particular from: the Ottomans' concomitant competition with the Safavids, Habsburgs, and Venetians, and the shared political theologies this entailed; the spread of various Muslim and Christian communities across imperial borders; and the Ottomans' permissiveness towards Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist missionary activities among the Empire's (mostly Orthodox) Christians. The project will investigate the evolution of the confessional discourses in the Ottoman Empire in both community-specific and entangled, cross-communal perspectives between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries by focusing on a) agents and strategies; b) textual genres; and c) sites of confessionalization."
Max ERC Funding
1 987 187 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym PARAMTIGHT
Project Parameterized complexity and the search for tight complexity results
Researcher (PI) Dániel Marx
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA SZAMITASTECHNIKAI ES AUTOMATIZALASI KUTATOINTEZET
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE6, ERC-2011-StG_20101014
Summary The joint goal of theoretical research in algorithms and
computational complexity is to discover all the relevant algorithmic techniques
in a problem domain and prove the optimality of these techniques.
We propose that the search for such tight results should be done
by a combined exploration of the dimensions running time, quality
of solution, and generality. Furthermore, the theory of parameterized complexity
provides a framework for this exploration.
Parameterized complexity is a theory whose goal is to
produce efficient algorithms for hard combinatorial problems using
a multi-dimensional analysis of the running time. Instead of
expressing the running time as a function of the input size only
(as it is done in classical complexity theory), parameterized
complexity tries to find algorithms whose running time is
polynomial in the input size, but exponential in one or more
well-defined parameters of the input instance.
The first objective of the project is to go beyond the
state of the art in the complexity and algorithmic aspects of
parameterized complexity in order to turn it into a theory
producing tight optimality results. With such theory at hand, we
can start the exploration of other dimensions and obtain tight
optimality results in a larger context. Our is goal is being able
to prove in a wide range of settings that we understand all the
algorithmic ideas and their optimality.
Summary
The joint goal of theoretical research in algorithms and
computational complexity is to discover all the relevant algorithmic techniques
in a problem domain and prove the optimality of these techniques.
We propose that the search for such tight results should be done
by a combined exploration of the dimensions running time, quality
of solution, and generality. Furthermore, the theory of parameterized complexity
provides a framework for this exploration.
Parameterized complexity is a theory whose goal is to
produce efficient algorithms for hard combinatorial problems using
a multi-dimensional analysis of the running time. Instead of
expressing the running time as a function of the input size only
(as it is done in classical complexity theory), parameterized
complexity tries to find algorithms whose running time is
polynomial in the input size, but exponential in one or more
well-defined parameters of the input instance.
The first objective of the project is to go beyond the
state of the art in the complexity and algorithmic aspects of
parameterized complexity in order to turn it into a theory
producing tight optimality results. With such theory at hand, we
can start the exploration of other dimensions and obtain tight
optimality results in a larger context. Our is goal is being able
to prove in a wide range of settings that we understand all the
algorithmic ideas and their optimality.
Max ERC Funding
1 150 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2017-06-30
Project acronym POTENTIALTHEORY
Project Potential theoretic methods in approximation and orthogonal polynomials
Researcher (PI) Vilmos Totik
Host Institution (HI) SZEGEDI TUDOMANYEGYETEM
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2010-AdG_20100224
Summary The project is aimed at systematic applications of potential theoretical
methods in approximation theory and in the theory of orthogonal polynomials.
Various open problems are proposed in different fields which
can be attacked with tools that have been developed in the
near past or are to be developed within the project.
The main areas are asymptotic behavior of Christoffel functions on the
real line and on curves, the universality problem in random matrices,
orthogonal polynomials and their zeros, polynomial inequalities, approximation
by homogeneous polynomials and some
questions in numerical analysis. The research problems and areas
discussed in the proposal are intensively investigated in current research. As has been the
case in the past, PhD students will be actively involved in the project.
Summary
The project is aimed at systematic applications of potential theoretical
methods in approximation theory and in the theory of orthogonal polynomials.
Various open problems are proposed in different fields which
can be attacked with tools that have been developed in the
near past or are to be developed within the project.
The main areas are asymptotic behavior of Christoffel functions on the
real line and on curves, the universality problem in random matrices,
orthogonal polynomials and their zeros, polynomial inequalities, approximation
by homogeneous polynomials and some
questions in numerical analysis. The research problems and areas
discussed in the proposal are intensively investigated in current research. As has been the
case in the past, PhD students will be actively involved in the project.
Max ERC Funding
402 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2016-12-31
Project acronym PRIMEGAPS
Project Gaps between primes and almost primes. Patterns in primes and almost primes. Approximations to the twin prime and Goldbach conjectures
Researcher (PI) Janos Pintz
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA RENYI ALFRED MATEMATIKAI KUTATOINTEZET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2008-AdG
Summary The twin prime conjecture, that n and n+2 are infinitely often primes simultaneously, is probably the oldest unsolved problem in mathematics. De Polignac (1849) conjectured that for every even value of h, n and n+h are infinitely often primes simultaneously. These are the most basic problems on gaps and patterns in primes. Another one is the conjecture of Waring (1770), stating that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions (AP) of primes. For the newest developments we cite Granville (Bull. AMS 43 (2006), p.93): ): Despite much research of excellent quality, there have been few breakthroughs on the most natural questions about the distribution of prime numbers in the last few decades. That situation has recently changed dramatically with two extraordinary breakthroughs, each on questions that the experts had held out little hope for in the foreseeable future. Green and Tao proved that there are infinitely many k-term arithmetic progressions of primes using methods that are mostly far removed from mainstream analytic number theory. Indeed, their work centers around a brilliant development of recent results in ergodic theory and harmonic analysis. Their proof is finished, in a natural way, by an adaptation of the proof of the other fantastic new result in this area, Goldston, Pintz and Yildirim s proof that there are small gaps between primes. The proposal's aim is to study these types of patterns in primes with possible combination of the two theories. We quote 3 of the main problems, the first one being the most important. 1) Bounded Gap Conjecture. Are there infinitely many bounded gaps between primes? 2) Suppose that primes have a level of distribution larger than 1/2. Does a fixed h exists such that for every k there is a k-term AP of generalised twin prime pairs (p, p+h)? 3) Erdôs' conjecture for k=3. Suppose A is a sequence of natural numbers, such that the sum of their reciprocals is unbounded. Does A contain infinitely many 3-term AP's?
Summary
The twin prime conjecture, that n and n+2 are infinitely often primes simultaneously, is probably the oldest unsolved problem in mathematics. De Polignac (1849) conjectured that for every even value of h, n and n+h are infinitely often primes simultaneously. These are the most basic problems on gaps and patterns in primes. Another one is the conjecture of Waring (1770), stating that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions (AP) of primes. For the newest developments we cite Granville (Bull. AMS 43 (2006), p.93): ): Despite much research of excellent quality, there have been few breakthroughs on the most natural questions about the distribution of prime numbers in the last few decades. That situation has recently changed dramatically with two extraordinary breakthroughs, each on questions that the experts had held out little hope for in the foreseeable future. Green and Tao proved that there are infinitely many k-term arithmetic progressions of primes using methods that are mostly far removed from mainstream analytic number theory. Indeed, their work centers around a brilliant development of recent results in ergodic theory and harmonic analysis. Their proof is finished, in a natural way, by an adaptation of the proof of the other fantastic new result in this area, Goldston, Pintz and Yildirim s proof that there are small gaps between primes. The proposal's aim is to study these types of patterns in primes with possible combination of the two theories. We quote 3 of the main problems, the first one being the most important. 1) Bounded Gap Conjecture. Are there infinitely many bounded gaps between primes? 2) Suppose that primes have a level of distribution larger than 1/2. Does a fixed h exists such that for every k there is a k-term AP of generalised twin prime pairs (p, p+h)? 3) Erdôs' conjecture for k=3. Suppose A is a sequence of natural numbers, such that the sum of their reciprocals is unbounded. Does A contain infinitely many 3-term AP's?
Max ERC Funding
1 376 400 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-11-01, End date: 2013-10-31
Project acronym QCDTHERMO
Project QCD thermodynamics on the lattice
Researcher (PI) Sándor Katz
Host Institution (HI) EOTVOS LORAND TUDOMANYEGYETEM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE2, ERC-2007-StG
Summary Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature and non-zero density describes phenomena relevant to the early universe and heavy-ion collisions. The applicability of perturbation theory is limited to large temperatures and densities. We plan to use lattice simulations to study QCD thermodynamics. There are different regularizations of QCD on the lattice. The computationally most effective one is the staggered formulation, while Wilson or chiral fermions are theoretically more established. We have to distinguish studies at vanishing baryon densities from the ones concerning non-zero density. At vanishing densities the order of the QCD transition between the hadronic phase and the quark-gluon plasma was studied using staggered fermions. In the physical, continuum limit the transition was found to be a crossover. The transition temperature has also been determined. These studies should be and will be extended using Wilson and chiral fermions. This way the staggered results can be checked. At non-vanishing densities direct lattice simulations are prohibited by the infamous sign problem. Recently the multi-parameter reweighting method was developed to study moderate densities using simulations at zero baryon density. The phase diagram as well as the critical point of QCD was determined using staggered fermions with a single lattice resolution. We plan to extend these studies in two ways. In the first step finer lattices will be studied with staggered fermions and a continuum extrapolation will be attempted. In the second step Wilson and possibly chiral fermions will be used. At large densities where the sign problem is the most severe the density of states method will be used. Based on our experience with PC clusters we will build a new, high performance cluster to achieve these goals. The establishment of a strong new research group certainly will improve the competitivity of the European lattice community.
Summary
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature and non-zero density describes phenomena relevant to the early universe and heavy-ion collisions. The applicability of perturbation theory is limited to large temperatures and densities. We plan to use lattice simulations to study QCD thermodynamics. There are different regularizations of QCD on the lattice. The computationally most effective one is the staggered formulation, while Wilson or chiral fermions are theoretically more established. We have to distinguish studies at vanishing baryon densities from the ones concerning non-zero density. At vanishing densities the order of the QCD transition between the hadronic phase and the quark-gluon plasma was studied using staggered fermions. In the physical, continuum limit the transition was found to be a crossover. The transition temperature has also been determined. These studies should be and will be extended using Wilson and chiral fermions. This way the staggered results can be checked. At non-vanishing densities direct lattice simulations are prohibited by the infamous sign problem. Recently the multi-parameter reweighting method was developed to study moderate densities using simulations at zero baryon density. The phase diagram as well as the critical point of QCD was determined using staggered fermions with a single lattice resolution. We plan to extend these studies in two ways. In the first step finer lattices will be studied with staggered fermions and a continuum extrapolation will be attempted. In the second step Wilson and possibly chiral fermions will be used. At large densities where the sign problem is the most severe the density of states method will be used. Based on our experience with PC clusters we will build a new, high performance cluster to achieve these goals. The establishment of a strong new research group certainly will improve the competitivity of the European lattice community.
Max ERC Funding
1 300 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-07-01, End date: 2014-03-31
Project acronym RADIOSTAR
Project Radioactivities from Stars to Solar Systems
Researcher (PI) Maria Anna LUGARO
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA CSILLAGASZATI ES FOLDTUDOMANYI KUTATOKOZPONT
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE9, ERC-2016-COG
Summary RADIOSTAR will exploit radioactive nuclei produced by nuclear reactions inside stars and ejected by stellar winds and supernova explosions to fill the missing pieces of the puzzle of the origin of our Solar System: What were the circumstances of the birth of our Sun? Were they similar to those of the majority of other stars in our Galaxy, or were they special? Radioactive nuclei are the key to answer these questions because meteoritic analysis has proven that many of them were present at the time of the birth of the Sun. Their origin, however, has been so far elusive. RADIOSTAR steps beyond the state-of-the-art to answer these open questions by (i) combining the evolution of radioactive nuclei in the Galaxy and within molecular clouds and (ii) considering all the seventeen radionuclides of interest and all their stellar sources and analysing the effects of uncertainties in their stellar production. This will allow us to:
- Use the decay of radioactive nuclei produced by the chemical evolution of the Galaxy as a clock to measure the lifetime of the Sun’s parent molecular cloud prior to the Sun’s birth;
- Calculate the self-pollution of this molecular cloud from the ejecta of stars with lives shorter than such lifetime;
- Discover if such self-pollution can fully explain the abundances of radioactive nuclei present at the time of the birth of the Sun, or whether special conditions are required.
RADIOSTAR will also have a far-reaching impact on our understanding of exoplanetary systems because the heat produced by radioactivity affects the evolution of planetesimals, with implications for the amount of water on terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. RADIOSTAR will open a new window into research on the effect of radioactivity on the evolution of planetesimals outside our Solar System.
Summary
RADIOSTAR will exploit radioactive nuclei produced by nuclear reactions inside stars and ejected by stellar winds and supernova explosions to fill the missing pieces of the puzzle of the origin of our Solar System: What were the circumstances of the birth of our Sun? Were they similar to those of the majority of other stars in our Galaxy, or were they special? Radioactive nuclei are the key to answer these questions because meteoritic analysis has proven that many of them were present at the time of the birth of the Sun. Their origin, however, has been so far elusive. RADIOSTAR steps beyond the state-of-the-art to answer these open questions by (i) combining the evolution of radioactive nuclei in the Galaxy and within molecular clouds and (ii) considering all the seventeen radionuclides of interest and all their stellar sources and analysing the effects of uncertainties in their stellar production. This will allow us to:
- Use the decay of radioactive nuclei produced by the chemical evolution of the Galaxy as a clock to measure the lifetime of the Sun’s parent molecular cloud prior to the Sun’s birth;
- Calculate the self-pollution of this molecular cloud from the ejecta of stars with lives shorter than such lifetime;
- Discover if such self-pollution can fully explain the abundances of radioactive nuclei present at the time of the birth of the Sun, or whether special conditions are required.
RADIOSTAR will also have a far-reaching impact on our understanding of exoplanetary systems because the heat produced by radioactivity affects the evolution of planetesimals, with implications for the amount of water on terrestrial planets in the habitable zone. RADIOSTAR will open a new window into research on the effect of radioactivity on the evolution of planetesimals outside our Solar System.
Max ERC Funding
1 726 300 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym REGULARITY
Project Regularity and Irregularity in Combinatorics and Number Theory
Researcher (PI) Endre Szemeredi
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA RENYI ALFRED MATEMATIKAI KUTATOINTEZET
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2012-ADG_20120216
Summary "Regularity and irregularity plays a central role in mathematics. In the present research proposal we will select problems from combinatorics and number theory (including additive combinatorics), where regularity and irregularity appear. In some cases we have to deal, e.g., with arbitrary finite or infinite subsets of natural numbers, where the only information we have is their cardinality, namely, that they are of positive (lower asymptotic) density within the set of all natural numbers or within the interval [1,N] for a large N. In other cases we consider an arbitrary distribution of n points within the unit square, where all we know is the density of our point set. The goal is often to show that certain configurations appear within the arbitrary set of numbers or points. These configurations definitely appear in a random set of numbers or points, but we have to show this for an arbitrary set of numbers or points with certain general properties. In order to reach our goal one can use two well-known methods. The first one is deterministic, often some kind of greedy algorithm. The second is the probabilistic method of Erdős, which shows that almost all arrangements of the given points or numbers (or graphs) fulfill the wanted property. A third method, the so called pseudorandom method, was initiated by the PI (together with M. Ajtai and J. Komlós), uses a combination of these. In other cases we have a deterministic set of numbers with certain quasi-random properties, for example, the primes. Randomness was the key idea in the recent breakthrough of Green and Tao, in proving that primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. We will deal with 6 groups of problems: (i) finite or infinite sequences of integers, (ii) difference sets and Fourier analysis, (iii) graph and hypergraph embedding theorems, (iv) Ramsey theory, (v) distribution of points in the plane and in the unit square, (vi) regularities and irregularities in the distribution of primes."
Summary
"Regularity and irregularity plays a central role in mathematics. In the present research proposal we will select problems from combinatorics and number theory (including additive combinatorics), where regularity and irregularity appear. In some cases we have to deal, e.g., with arbitrary finite or infinite subsets of natural numbers, where the only information we have is their cardinality, namely, that they are of positive (lower asymptotic) density within the set of all natural numbers or within the interval [1,N] for a large N. In other cases we consider an arbitrary distribution of n points within the unit square, where all we know is the density of our point set. The goal is often to show that certain configurations appear within the arbitrary set of numbers or points. These configurations definitely appear in a random set of numbers or points, but we have to show this for an arbitrary set of numbers or points with certain general properties. In order to reach our goal one can use two well-known methods. The first one is deterministic, often some kind of greedy algorithm. The second is the probabilistic method of Erdős, which shows that almost all arrangements of the given points or numbers (or graphs) fulfill the wanted property. A third method, the so called pseudorandom method, was initiated by the PI (together with M. Ajtai and J. Komlós), uses a combination of these. In other cases we have a deterministic set of numbers with certain quasi-random properties, for example, the primes. Randomness was the key idea in the recent breakthrough of Green and Tao, in proving that primes contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. We will deal with 6 groups of problems: (i) finite or infinite sequences of integers, (ii) difference sets and Fourier analysis, (iii) graph and hypergraph embedding theorems, (iv) Ramsey theory, (v) distribution of points in the plane and in the unit square, (vi) regularities and irregularities in the distribution of primes."
Max ERC Funding
1 776 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym RESOCEA
Project Regime and Society in Eastern Europe (1956 - 1989). From Extended Reproduction to Social and Political Change
Researcher (PI) Ivaylo Boyanov Znepolski
Host Institution (HI) SOFIA UNIVERSITY ST KLIMENT OHRIDSKI
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2010-AdG_20100407
Summary "The ambition of this project rests on the long-established tradition of the comparative politico-historical and interdisciplinary studies of the totalitarian regimes and on the theoretical efforts to elucidate the social dynamics and social change in Eastern Europe during the so called ""real socialism"". It will deal with the relations between regime and society in an attempt to highlight the growing tensions between them.
Without neglecting the important role of the geopolitical confrontation and the dissident movements, this work will search the key factors for the disintegration of communist societies in the common peoples’ modes of conduct. While the regime followed the same guiding principles till its end, individual and community ways kept changing and these shifts affected the whole society. Therefore we should study and critically analyse the evolving motives behind individual and group everyday behavior, their new moral orientations, as well as the changes in the regime practices and the characteristics of the dominant type among party functionaries. The communist regime loses support among social groups, which it favours and considers its social basis.
The project involves one PI who will organise and supervise the work of four senior researchers from the ex-socialist countries while each of them deals with the local aspects of the issue. The PI will study these phenomena in Bulgarian context and at the same time will provide a comparative narrative linking all five case studies.
The comparative analyses of different social practices and dynamics in similar political environments will help us understand the various courses Eastern-European countries took in overcoming their communist past and can serve as a basis for a follow-up research of the Transition process."
Summary
"The ambition of this project rests on the long-established tradition of the comparative politico-historical and interdisciplinary studies of the totalitarian regimes and on the theoretical efforts to elucidate the social dynamics and social change in Eastern Europe during the so called ""real socialism"". It will deal with the relations between regime and society in an attempt to highlight the growing tensions between them.
Without neglecting the important role of the geopolitical confrontation and the dissident movements, this work will search the key factors for the disintegration of communist societies in the common peoples’ modes of conduct. While the regime followed the same guiding principles till its end, individual and community ways kept changing and these shifts affected the whole society. Therefore we should study and critically analyse the evolving motives behind individual and group everyday behavior, their new moral orientations, as well as the changes in the regime practices and the characteristics of the dominant type among party functionaries. The communist regime loses support among social groups, which it favours and considers its social basis.
The project involves one PI who will organise and supervise the work of four senior researchers from the ex-socialist countries while each of them deals with the local aspects of the issue. The PI will study these phenomena in Bulgarian context and at the same time will provide a comparative narrative linking all five case studies.
The comparative analyses of different social practices and dynamics in similar political environments will help us understand the various courses Eastern-European countries took in overcoming their communist past and can serve as a basis for a follow-up research of the Transition process."
Max ERC Funding
1 026 120 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2016-05-31
Project acronym SACCRED
Project Structured ACCREtion Disks: initial conditions for planet formation in the time domain
Researcher (PI) Ágnes KÓSPÁL
Host Institution (HI) MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA CSILLAGASZATI ES FOLDTUDOMANYI KUTATOKOZPONT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE9, ERC-2016-STG
Summary In this ERC Starting Grant, I propose an ambitious research program to target important challenges in predicting realistic initial conditions for the planet formation process. I will perform a large systematic study of the accretion-driven eruptions of newborn stars, and evaluate their influence on the structure, composition, and chemistry of the terrestrial planet forming zone in the circumstellar disk. The research will focus on three main questions:
- How does the mass accretion proceed in realistic, structured, non-axisymmetric disks?
- What physical mechanisms explain the accretion-driven eruptions?
- What is the effect of the eruptions on the disk?
My new research group will study young eruptive stars, pre-main sequence objects prone to episodes of extremely powerful accretion-driven outbursts, and combine new observations, state-of-the-art numerical modelling, and information from the literature. With a novel concept, we will first model the time-dependence of mass accretion in circumstellar disks, taking into account the latest observational results on inhomogeneous disk structure, and determine what fraction of young stellar objects is susceptible to high mass accretion peaks. Next, we will revise the paradigm of the eruptive phenomenon, compelled by recently discovered young eruptive stars whose outbursts are inconsistent with current outburst theories. Finally, we will determine the impact of accretion-driven eruptions on the disk, by considering the increased external irradiation, internal accretion heating, and stellar winds. With my experience and track record, I am in a position to comprehensively synthesize existing and newly acquired information to reach the proposed goals. The expected outcome of the ERC project is a conclusive demonstration of the ubiquity and profound impact of episodic accretion on disk structure, providing the initial physical conditions for disk evolution and planet formation models.
Summary
In this ERC Starting Grant, I propose an ambitious research program to target important challenges in predicting realistic initial conditions for the planet formation process. I will perform a large systematic study of the accretion-driven eruptions of newborn stars, and evaluate their influence on the structure, composition, and chemistry of the terrestrial planet forming zone in the circumstellar disk. The research will focus on three main questions:
- How does the mass accretion proceed in realistic, structured, non-axisymmetric disks?
- What physical mechanisms explain the accretion-driven eruptions?
- What is the effect of the eruptions on the disk?
My new research group will study young eruptive stars, pre-main sequence objects prone to episodes of extremely powerful accretion-driven outbursts, and combine new observations, state-of-the-art numerical modelling, and information from the literature. With a novel concept, we will first model the time-dependence of mass accretion in circumstellar disks, taking into account the latest observational results on inhomogeneous disk structure, and determine what fraction of young stellar objects is susceptible to high mass accretion peaks. Next, we will revise the paradigm of the eruptive phenomenon, compelled by recently discovered young eruptive stars whose outbursts are inconsistent with current outburst theories. Finally, we will determine the impact of accretion-driven eruptions on the disk, by considering the increased external irradiation, internal accretion heating, and stellar winds. With my experience and track record, I am in a position to comprehensively synthesize existing and newly acquired information to reach the proposed goals. The expected outcome of the ERC project is a conclusive demonstration of the ubiquity and profound impact of episodic accretion on disk structure, providing the initial physical conditions for disk evolution and planet formation models.
Max ERC Funding
1 370 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym SERRACO
Project Modulation of cortical activity by median raphe neuronal assemblies with identified behavioural effects
Researcher (PI) Tamás Freund
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE - HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), LS5, ERC-2011-ADG_20110310
Summary Cortical operations are built up from states associated with distinct behaviour-dependent network activity patterns that subserve information aquisition, encoding, memory consolidation and retrieval. Thus, they can be considered as manifestations of different processing modes. Groups of modulatory, largely monoaminergic neurons located in subcortical nuclei innervating all forebrain areas are indispensable for the generation, stabilization and termination of cortical activity states. In recent years the concept of subcortical modulation has been expanded by the discovery of a fast type of modulatory action driving the rapid readjustment of cortical activity and associated behaviours. Thus, cortical networks are under the influence of a tonic, slow, as well as a phasic, rapid component of subcortical modulation that are acting in parallel. Results from our laboratory revealed that the median raphe (MR) nucleus, one of the main sources of serotonergic innervation of the limbic system , besides the non-synaptic diffuse action, also exerts a fast type of modulation via the selective innervation of cortical GABAergic interneurons. This selective effect on local inhibition may be ideal for the synchronous resetting of the target principal cell circuits, or for the continuous tuning of their activity. These discoveries, together with the methodological advances of recent years, enable us to map the neuronal network mechanisms behind transitions of brain states, as well as associated behaviours, induced by subcortical inputs. We will focus on the MR – limbic connection with the aim to unravel the physiological, pharmacological and anatomical features of MR neuronal assemblies, both the slow- and fast-acting, as well as the serotonergic and glutamatergic components (together with their cortical target circuits) that will have been shown - using optic stimulation of ChR2/eGFP virus-infected MR neurons - to evoke characteristic behaviours, such as anxiety and conditioned fear.
Summary
Cortical operations are built up from states associated with distinct behaviour-dependent network activity patterns that subserve information aquisition, encoding, memory consolidation and retrieval. Thus, they can be considered as manifestations of different processing modes. Groups of modulatory, largely monoaminergic neurons located in subcortical nuclei innervating all forebrain areas are indispensable for the generation, stabilization and termination of cortical activity states. In recent years the concept of subcortical modulation has been expanded by the discovery of a fast type of modulatory action driving the rapid readjustment of cortical activity and associated behaviours. Thus, cortical networks are under the influence of a tonic, slow, as well as a phasic, rapid component of subcortical modulation that are acting in parallel. Results from our laboratory revealed that the median raphe (MR) nucleus, one of the main sources of serotonergic innervation of the limbic system , besides the non-synaptic diffuse action, also exerts a fast type of modulation via the selective innervation of cortical GABAergic interneurons. This selective effect on local inhibition may be ideal for the synchronous resetting of the target principal cell circuits, or for the continuous tuning of their activity. These discoveries, together with the methodological advances of recent years, enable us to map the neuronal network mechanisms behind transitions of brain states, as well as associated behaviours, induced by subcortical inputs. We will focus on the MR – limbic connection with the aim to unravel the physiological, pharmacological and anatomical features of MR neuronal assemblies, both the slow- and fast-acting, as well as the serotonergic and glutamatergic components (together with their cortical target circuits) that will have been shown - using optic stimulation of ChR2/eGFP virus-infected MR neurons - to evoke characteristic behaviours, such as anxiety and conditioned fear.
Max ERC Funding
2 700 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-03-01, End date: 2017-02-28
