ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

All properties of matter are ultimately governed by the forces between single atoms, but our knowledge of interatomic, and intermolecular, potentials is often derived indirectly. In 3DMOSHBOND, I outline a program of work designed to create a paradigm shift in the direct measurement of complex interatomic potentials via a fundamental reimagining of how atomic resolution imaging, and force measurement, techniques are applied. To provide a clear proof of principle demonstration of the power of this concept, I propose to map the strength, shape and extent of single hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions in 3D with sub-Angstrom precision. H-bonding is a key component governing intermolecular interactions, particularly for biologically important molecules. Despite its critical importance, H-bonding is relatively poorly understood, and the IUPAC definition of the H-bond was changed as recently as 2011- highlighting the relevance of a new means to engage with these fundamental interactions. Hitherto unprecedented resolution and accuracy will be achieved via a creation of a novel layer of vertically oriented H-bonding molecules, functionalisation of the tip of a scanning probe microscope with a single complementary H-bonding molecule, and by complete characterisation of the position of all atoms in the junction. This will place two H-bonding groups “end on” and map the extent, and magnitude, of the H-bond with sub-Angstrom precision for a variety of systems. This investigation of the H-bond will present us with an unparalleled level of information regarding its properties. Experimental results will be compared with ab initio density functional theory (DFT) simulations, to investigate the extent to which state-of-the-art simulations are able to reproduce the behaviour of the H-bonding interaction. The project will create a new generalised probe for the study of single atomic and molecular interactions.

1 971 468 €

Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31

The aim of the present proposal is to establish a research team developing and exploiting innovative techniques to study conformal field theories (CFT) analytically. Our approach does not rely on a Lagrangian description but on symmetries and consistency conditions. As such it applies to any CFT, offering a unified framework to study generic CFTs analytically. The initial implementation of this program has already led to striking new results and insights for both Lagrangian and non-Lagrangian CFTs. The overarching aims of my team will be: To develop an analytic bootstrap program for CFTs in general dimensions; to complement these techniques with more traditional methods and develop a systematic machinery to obtain analytic results for generic CFTs; and to use these results to gain new insights into the mathematical structure of the space of quantum field theories. The proposal will bring together researchers from different areas. The objectives in brief are: 1) Develop an alternative to Feynman diagram computations for Lagrangian CFTs. 2) Develop a machinery to compute loops for QFT on AdS, with and without gravity. 3) Develop an analytic approach to non-perturbative N=4 SYM and other CFTs. 4) Determine the space of all CFTs. 5) Gain new insights into the mathematical structure of the space of quantum field theories. The outputs of this proposal will include a new way of doing perturbative computations based on symmetries; a constructive derivation of the AdS/CFT duality; new analytic techniques to attack strongly coupled systems and invaluable new lessons about the space of CFTs and QFTs. Success in this research will lead to a completely new, unified way to view and solve CFTs, with a huge impact on several branches of physics and mathematics.

2 171 483 €

Start date: 2018-12-01, End date: 2023-11-30

Active Matter systems, such as self-propelled colloids, violate time-reversal symmetry by producing entropy locally, typically converting fuel into mechanical motion at the particle scale. Other driven systems instead produce entropy because of global forcing by external fields, or boundary conditions that impose macroscopic fluxes (such as the momentum flux across a fluid sheared between moving parallel walls). Nonequilibrium statistical physics (NeSP) is the basic toolbox for both classes of system. In recent years, much progress in NeSP has stemmed from bottom-up work on driven systems. This has provided a number of exactly solved benchmark models, and extended approximation techniques to address driven non-ergodic systems, such as sheared glasses. Meanwhile, work on fluctuation theorems and stochastic thermodynamics have created profound, model-independent insights into dynamics far from equilibrium. More recently, the field of Active Matter has moved forward rapidly, leaving in its wake a series of generic and profound NeSP questions that now need answers: When is time-reversal symmetry, broken at the microscale, restored by coarse-graining? If it is restored, is an effective thermodynamic description is possible? How different is an active system's behaviour from a globally forced one? ADSNeSP aims to distil from recent Active Matter research such fundamental questions; answer them first in the context of specific models and second in more general terms; and then, using the tools and insights gained, shed new light on longstanding problems in the wider class of driven systems. I believe these new tools and insights will be substantial, because local activity takes systems far from equilibrium in a conceptually distinct direction from most types of global driving. By focusing on general principles and on simple models of activity, I seek to create a new vantage point that can inform, and potentially transform, wider areas of statistical physics.

2 043 630 €

Start date: 2017-10-01, End date: 2022-09-30

"This proposal addresses major questions in particle physics that are at the forefront of experimental and theoretical physics research today. The results offered would have far-reaching implications in other fields such as cosmology and could help answer some of the big questions such as why the universe contains so much more matter than antimatter. The research objectives of this proposal are to (i) make world-leading tests of CPT symmetry and (ii) discover the neutrino mass hierarchy and search for indications of leptonic CP violation. The NOvA long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment will use a novel ""totally active scintillator design"" for the detector technology and will be exposed to the world's highest power neutrino beam. Building on the first direct observation of muon antineutrino disappearance (that was made by a group founded and led by the PI at the MINOS experiment), tests of CPT symmetry will be performed by looking for differences in the mass squared splittings and mixing angles between neutrinos and antineutrinos. The potential to discover the mass hierarchy is unique to NOvA on the timescale of this proposal due to the long 810 km baseline and the well measured beam of neutrinos and antineutrinos. This proposal addresses several key challenges in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with the following tasks: (i) development of a new approach to event energy reconstruction that is expected to have widespread applicability for future neutrino experiments; (ii) undertaking a comprehensive calibration project, exploiting a novel technique developed by the PI, that will be essential to achieving the physics goals; (iii) development of a sophisticated statistical analyses. The results promised in this proposal surpass the sensitivity to antineutrino oscillation parameters of current 1st generation experiments by at least an order of magnitude, offering wide scope for profound discoveries with implications across disciplines."

1 415 848 €

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

The property of spin has been harnessed in an array of revolutionary technologies, from nuclear spins in magnetic resonance imaging to spintronics in magnetic recording media. Nature at its deepest level is quantum mechanical and spins are capable of demonstrating superposition and entanglement, yet such coherent properties have not yet been fully exploited. The exquisite control over materials fabrication and spin control techniques has reached a maturity where spintronics can go beyond purely classical effects and begin to fully exploit these quantum properties. Potential applications range from quantum information processors, including the transmission of quantum information via itinerant electron spins, single microwave photon storage within spin ensembles, and a new generation of sensors exploiting entanglement to yield fundamentally enhanced precision. The aim of ASCENT is to develop materials and devices in which electron and nuclear spins exhibit long-lived coherent quantum behaviour and interactions which can be harnessed for technological purposes. Specifically, ASCENT will exploit in range of condensed matter systems from molecular materials to silicon-based structures, the possibility of transiently generating and removing electron spins in the vicinity of nuclear spins. The project represents a new and promising direction for the development of coherent interactions between spins in materials, and one which builds upon foundations I have established in my earlier work, often supported by preliminary investigations. Strong interactions with theory throughout this project will provide insights to refine and improve the experiments. In addition to direct applications in quantum technologies, the insights and methodology gained will be fed back into the wider field of spin resonance, including dynamic nuclear polarisation, structural biology and medical imaging.

1 875 550 €

Start date: 2011-12-01, End date: 2017-06-30

It has long been understood that genes contribute to phenotypes that are then the basis of selection. However, the nature and process of this relationship remains largely theoretical, and the relative contribution of change in gene expression and coding sequence to phenotypic diversification is unclear. The aim of this proposal is to fuse information about sexually dimorphic phenotypes, the mating systems and sexually antagonistic selective agents that shape sexual dimorphism, and the sex-biased gene expression patterns that encode sexual dimorphisms, in order to create a cohesive integrated understanding of the relationship between evolution, the genome, and the animal form. The primary approach of this project is to harnesses emergent DNA sequencing technologies in order to measure evolutionary change in gene expression and coding sequence in response to different sex-specific selection regimes in a clade of birds with divergent mating systems. Sex-specific selection pressures arise in large part as a consequence of mating system, however males and females share nearly identical genomes, especially in the vertebrates where the sex chromosomes house very small proportions of the overall transcriptome. This single shared genome creates sex-specific phenotypes via different gene expression levels in females and males, and these sex-biased genes connect sexual dimorphisms, and the sexually antagonistic selection pressures that shape them, with the regions of the genome that encode them. The Galloanserae (fowl and waterfowl) will be used to in the proposed project, as this clade combines the necessary requirements of both variation in mating systems and a well-conserved reference genome (chicken). The study species selected from within the Galloanserae for the proposal exhibit a range of sexual dimorphism and sperm competition, and this will be exploited with next generation (454 and Illumina) genomic and transcriptomic data to study the gene expression patterns that underlie sexual dimorphisms, and the evolutionary pressures acting on them. This work will be complemented by the development of mathematical models of sex-specific evolution that will be tested against the gene expression and gene sequence data in order to understand the mechanisms by which sex-specific selection regimes, arising largely from mating systems, shape the phenotype via the genome.

1 350 804 €

Start date: 2011-01-01, End date: 2016-07-31

Learning from others is fundamental to ecological success across the animal kingdom, but a key theme to emerge from recent research is that individuals respond differently to social information. Understanding this diversity is an imposing challenge, because it is hard to replicate the overwhelming complexity of free-living groups within controlled laboratory conditions. Yet here I propose that one of the most complex social models that we know of— the sophisticated eusocial societies of honeybees— offer unrivaled and yet unrecognized potential to study social information flow through a natural group. The honeybee “dance language” is one of the most celebrated communication systems in the animal world, and central to a powerful information network that drives our most high-profile pollinator to food, but bee colonies are uniquely tractable for two reasons. Firstly, next-generation transcriptomics could allow us to delve deep into this complexity at the molecular level, on a scale that is simply not available in vertebrate social systems. I propose to track information flow through a natural group using brain gene expression profiles, to understand how dances elicit learning in the bee brain. Secondly, although bee foraging ranges are vast and diverse, social learning takes place in one centralized location (the hive). The social sciences now offer powerful new tools to analyze social networks, and I will use a cutting-edge network-based modelling approach to understand how the importance of social learning mechanisms shifts with ecology. In the face of global pollinator decline, understanding the contribution of foraging drivers to colony success has never been more pressing, but the importance of the dance language reaches far beyond food security concerns. This research integrates proximate and ultimate perspectives to produce a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary program; a high-risk, high-gain journey into new territory for understanding animal communication.

1 422 010 €

Start date: 2016-02-01, End date: 2021-01-31

Breakthroughs in numerical relativity in 2005 gave us unprecedented access to the strong-field regime of general relativity, making possible solutions of the full nonlinear Einstein equations for the merger of two black holes. Numerical relativity is also crucial to study fundamental physics with gravitational-wave (GW) observations: numerical solutions allow us to construct models that will be essential to extract physical information from observations in data from Advanced LIGO and Virgo, which will operate from late 2015. Complete signal models will allow us to follow up our first theoretical predictions of the nature of black-hole mergers with their first observational measurements. The goal of this project is to advance numerical-relativity methods, deepen our understanding of black-hole mergers, and map the parameter space of binary configurations with the most comprehensive and systematic set of numerical calculations performed to date, in order to produce a complete GW signal model. Central to this problem is the purely general-relativistic effect of orbital precession. The inclusion of precession in waveform models is the most challenging and urgent theoretical problem in the build-up to GW astronomy. Simulations must cover a seven-dimensional parameter space of binary configurations, but their computational cost makes a naive covering unfeasible. This project capitalizes on a breakthrough preliminary model produced by my team in 2013, with the pragmatic goal of focussing on the physics that will be measurable with GW detectors over the next five years. My team at Cardiff is uniquely placed to tackle this problem. Since 2005 I have been at the forefront of black-hole simulations and waveform modelling, and the Cardiff group is a world leader in analysis of GW detector data. This project will consolidate my team to make breakthroughs in strong-field gravity, astrophysics, fundamental physics and cosmology using GW observations.

1 998 009 €

Start date: 2015-10-01, End date: 2020-09-30

CDREG develops the major new Earth system science research hypothesis that tectonic-related variations in Earth’s atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]a) drive negative ecological feedbacks on terrestrial silicate weathering rates that stabilise further [CO2]a change and regulate climate. This paradigm-changing hypothesis integrates ecological and abiotic controls on silicate weathering to understand how terrestrial ecosystems have shaped past Earth system dynamics. The proposed ecological feedbacks are mechanistically linked to the extent and activities of forested ecosystems and their symbiotic fungal partners as the primary engines of biological weathering. CDREG’s core hypothesis establishes an exciting cross-disciplinary Research Programme that offers novel opportunities for major breakthroughs implemented through four linked hypothesis-driven work packages (WPs) employing experimental, geochemical and numerical modelling approaches. WP1 quantitatively characterises [CO2]a-driven tree/grass-fungal mineral weathering by coupling metabolic profiling with advanced nanometre scale surface metrological techniques for investigating hyphal-mineral interactions. WP2 quantifies the role [CO2]a-drought interactions on savanna tree mortality and C4 grass survivorship, plus symbiotic fungal-driven mineral weathering. WP3 exploits the past 8 Ma of marine sediment archives to investigate the links between forest to savanna transition, terrestrial weathering, fire, and climate in Africa. WP4 integrates findings from WP1-3 into a new Earth system modelling framework to rigorously investigate the biogeochemical feedbacks of [CO2]a-regulated ecological weathering on [CO2]a via marine carbonate deposition and organic C burial. The ultimate goal is to provide a new synthesis in which the role of [CO2]a in regulating the ecological weathering engine across scales from root-associated microorganisms to terrestrial ecosystems is mechanistically understood and assessed.

2 271 980 €

Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31

General relativity, Einstein's celebrated theory, has been very successful as a theory of the gravitational interaction. However, within the course of the last decades several issues have been pointed out as indicating its limitations: the inevitable existence of spacetime singularities and the fact that it is not a renormalizable theory manifest as shortcomings at very small scales. The inability of the theory to explain the late time accelerated expansion of the universe or the rotational curves of galaxies without the need of unobserved, mysterious forms of matter/energy can be interpreted as shortcomings at large scales. These riddles make gravity by far the most enigmatic of interactions nowadays. Therefore, the understanding of gravity beyond general relativity seems to be more pertinent than ever. We propose to address this difficult issue by considering a synthetic approach towards the understand of the limitations of general relativity and the study of phenomenology which is usually considered to be outsides its realm. The proposed directions include, but are not limited to: the study of quantum gravity candidates and their phenomenology; extensions or modifications of general relativity which may address renormalizability issues or cosmological observations; explorations of fundamental principles of general relativity and the possible violation of such principles; the study of the implications of deviations from Einstein's theory for astrophysics and cosmology and the possible ways to constrain such deviations; and the study of effects within the framework of general relativity which lie at the limit of its validity as a gravity theory. The deeper understanding of each of these issues will provide an important piece to the puzzle. The synthesis of this pieces is most likely to significantly aid our understanding of gravity, and this is our ultimate goal.

1 375 226 €

Start date: 2012-08-01, End date: 2018-01-31

The aim of this proposal is to use spin qubits defined in carbon nanotube quantum dots to demonstrate measurement-based entanglement in an all-electrical and scalable solid-state architecture. The project makes use of spin-orbit interaction to drive spin rotations in the carbon nanotube host system and hyperfine interaction to store quantum information in the nuclear spin states. The proposal builds on techniques developed by the principal investigator for fast and non-invasive read-out of the electron spin qubits using radio-frequency reflectometry and spin-to-charge conversion. Any quantum computer requires entanglement. One route to achieve entanglement between electron spin qubits in quantum dots is to use the direct interaction of neighbouring qubits due to their electron wavefunction overlap. This approach, however, becomes rapidly impractical for any large scale quantum processor, as distant qubits can only be entangled through the use of qubits in between. Here I propose an alternative strategy which makes use of an intriguing quantum mechanical effect by which two spatially separated spin qubits coupled to a single electrical resonator become entangled if a measurement cannot tell them apart. The quantum information encoded in the entangled electron spin qubits will be transferred to carbon-13 nuclear spins which are used as a quantum memory with coherence times that exceed seconds. Entanglement with further qubits then proceeds again via projective measurements of the electron spin qubits without risk of losing the existing entanglement. When entanglement of the electron spin qubits is heralded – which might take several attempts – the quantum information is transferred again to the nuclear spin states. This allows for the coupling of large numbers of physically separated qubits, building up so-called graph or cluster states in an all-electrical and scalable solid-state architecture.

1 998 574 €

Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31

All organisms in nature are targets for parasite attack. Over a century ago, it was first observed that symbiotic species living in hosts can provide a strong barrier against infection, beyond the host’s own defence responses. We now know that ‘protective’ microbial symbiont species are key components of plant, animal, and human microbiota, shaping host health in the face of parasite infection. I have shown that microbes can evolve within days to protect, providing the possibility that microbe-mediated defences can take-over from hosts in fighting with parasites over evolutionary time. This new discovery of an evolvable microbe-mediated defence challenges our fundamental understanding of the host-parasite relationship. Here, I will use a novel nematode-microbe interaction, an experimental evolution approach, and assays of phenotypic and genomic changes (the latter using state-of-the-art sequencing and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies) to generate new insights into the drivers and consequences of coevolving protective symbioses. Specifically, the objectives are to test: (i) the ability of microbe-mediated protection to evolve more rapidly than host-encoded resistance, (ii) the impacts of evolvable protective microbes on host-parasite coevolution, and the effect of community complexity, in the form of (iii) parasite and (iv) within-host microbial heterogeneity, in shaping host-protective microbe coevolution from scratch. Together, these objectives will generate a new, synthetic understanding of how protective symbioses evolve and influence host resistance and parasite infectivity, with far-reaching implications for tackling coevolution in communities.

1 499 275 €

Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31

I propose to use computer simulations to predict the thermodynamic stability and kinetics of formation of three-dimensional structures of DNA-linked colloids. I then aim to go beyond simple binary structures and use simulation to explore novel strategies to build multi-component three-dimensional colloidal structures. At present, the complexity of self-assembled colloidal crystals is limited: ordered structures with more than two distinct components are rare. To make more complex structures, particles should bind selectively to their designated neighbours. This may be achieved by coating colloids with single-stranded DNA that hybridises selectively with the complementary sequence on another colloid. However, there are many practical obstacles to go from there to the self assembly of multi-component structures. In order to make progress, we need to understand the factors that determine the thermodynamic stability and, even more importantly, the kinetics of formation of complex structures. Such a numerical study will require a wide range of numerical techniques, many of which do not yet exist. As I have played a key role in the development of the numerical methods to study both the stability and the kinetics of formation of simple colloidal crystals, I am well positioned to make a breakthrough that should have important implications for experimental work in this field. My research will focus on DNA-linked colloidal systems, as this is an active area of experimental research. However, I stress that many of the techniques that I aim to develop are general. During the project, I aim to study the factors that influence the equilibrium phase diagram and the kinetics of passive and active self-assembly of (multi-component) DNA-colloid systems During the project, I aim to study the factors that influence the equilibrium phase diagram and the kinetics of passive and active self-assembly of (multi-component) DNA-colloid systems

1 863 234 €

Start date: 2008-11-01, End date: 2014-10-31

Cooperation poses a problem to evolutionary theory because it can be exploited by selfish individuals. Evolutionary biologists have developed a detailed theoretical overview of possible solutions to the problem of cooperation. In contrast to our theoretical understanding of potential solutions, however,, we have been relatively unsuccessful at applying theory to understand observations of cooperative behaviour nature. We present a novel and interdisciplinary programme of research to address this problem by empirically testing assumptions and predictions of several leading explanations for cooperation. We will develop theory to make explicit testable predictions for specific systems. We will exploit the advantage offered by different study systems: experiments with bacteria, comparative studies on cooperative breeding vertebrates, and experiments on humans. In addition to addressing specific hypotheses, we will show how evolutionary theory links and differentiates explanations for cooperation across various taxa and levels of biological organization.

1 200 000 €

Start date: 2009-10-01, End date: 2015-09-30

The advent of high-power laser systems in the past two decades has opened a new field of research where astrophysical environments can be scaled down to laboratory dimensions, yet preserving the essential physics. This is due to the invariance of the equations of ideal magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) to a class of self-similar transformations. In this proposal, we will apply these scaling laws to investigate the dynamics of the high Mach number shocks arising during the formation of the large-scale structure of the Universe. Although at the beginning of cosmic evolution matter was nearly homogenously distributed, today, as a result of gravitational instability, it forms a web-like structure made of filaments and clusters. Gas continues to accrete supersonically onto these collapsed structures, thus producing high Mach number shocks. It has been recently proposed that generation of magnetic fields can occur at these cosmic shocks on a cosmologically fast timescale via a Weibel-like instability, thus providing an appealing explanation to the ubiquitous magnetization of the Universe. Our proposal will thus provide the first experimental evidence of such mechanisms. We plan to measure the self-generated magnetic fields from laboratory shock waves using a novel combination of electron deflectometry, Faraday rotation measurements using THz lasers, and dB/dt probes. The proposed investigation on the generation of magnetic fields at shocks via plasma instabilities bears important general consequences. First, it will shed light on the origin of cosmic magnetic fields. Second, it would have a tremendous impact on one of the greatest puzzles of high energy astrophysics, the origin of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays. We plan to assess the role of charged particle acceleration via collisionless shocks in the amplification of the magnetic field as well as measure the spectrum of such accelerated particles. The experimental work will be carried both at Oxford U and at laser facilities.

1 119 690 €

Start date: 2010-12-01, End date: 2015-11-30

The nature of dark matter is one of the fundamental questions in physics today. Direct signals for dark matter have remained elusive, indicating that multi-tonne scale detectors are needed to measure large numbers of dark matter interactions, while current efforts are at the 100 kg scale. The foremost challenge is distinguishing dark matter signals from backgrounds, the most uncertain of which are from neutrons. The research objective of this proposal is a world-leading dark matter search with a novel liquid argon (LAr) detector and a new analysis approach to measuring neutron backgrounds in-situ. The DEAP/CLEAN program of single-phase LAr detectors is a new direction for dark matter searches. It draws on successful, proven approaches of solar neutrino physics to building low-background detectors that scale simply to multi-tonne target masses. Demonstration of this approach by the current 100 kg stage (MiniCLEAN) will break new ground for future experiments. At the 100 tonne scale, such a detector would be a new kind of observatory for fundamental physics at the low background frontier, testing predicted properties of dark matter, neutrinos, supernovae, and stellar evolution. Success depends critically on demonstrating the required background suppression. This proposal addresses the key challenges of dark matter detection in two new ways, with the novel single-phase effort for multi-tonne scalability, and by developing new methods to overcome neutron backgrounds. The tasks of this proposal are: (i) to develop a measurement of the in-situ neutron background in LAr; (ii) to develop an active neutron veto for in-situ measurement of the cosmogenic neutron background, beginning with a measurement of the flux and energy spectrum in an existing prototype; and, (iii) to lead the dark matter search, using the measured backgrounds. The MiniCLEAN dark matter sensitivity is a factor of 20 beyond current experimental results, with great potential for discovery.

1 063 174 €

Start date: 2011-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31

Translocation of ions and molecules is ubiquitous in biology and technology. Despite the tremendous amount of technical development, biological systems are still much more sophisticated in exerting exquisite control over active and passive translocation through nanopores in membranes than their existing synthetic mimics. This proposal aims to build novel designer nanopores that can match naturally evolved systems. For this we have to control all three stages of translocation: 1) diffusion and entry into, 2) diffusion in, and 3) exit from the nanopore. To gain fundamental insight into the translocation process we will employ microfluidic channels combined with holographic optical tweezers. Results from the microscale model system will be directly translated to nanoscale pores built with DNA origami nanotechnology. Our microfluidic experiments will automatically track diffusing spherical and non-spherical particles in artificial channels. Facilitated membrane transport will be mimicked by holographic optical tweezers providing full control over the translocation process. We will clarify how translocation depends on particle-particle, particle-channel, and particle-channel-entrance interactions. The generic principles discovered on the microscale will guide the design of artificial nanopores made by DNA origami self-assembly. Our DNA origami based designer nanopores will lead to a novel class of transporters for molecules, ions, and water through solid-state and lipid membranes. The project will generate a quantitative understanding of membrane transport processes, test existing theoretical models with unprecedented experimental control, and introduce a novel approach to design active and passive nanopores built from DNA.

1 936 431 €

Start date: 2015-07-01, End date: 2020-06-30

The status quo of particle physics after the first data taking at the Large Hadron Collider is: a light Higgs particle has been discovered that is perfectly compatible with the electroweak Standard Model (SM). While this is undoubtedly a historic step in particle physics, it is not entirely satisfactory, as in its current state the SM leaves many questions unanswered. If the Standard Model of today is just the low energy theory of more complex phenomena, then these phenomena will become manifest in modifications of the cross sections and differential distributions of known processes. These modifications can be described by higher dimensional operators, which are general extensions of the SM and can be tested using precision measurements of diboson production processes. The DIMO6Fit project will focus on measuring those production processes most sensitive to the new physics effects, using innovative analysis techniques aimed at significantly reducing the debilitating limitations in current measurements. I will set up a novel combined global fit for determining the higher dimensional operators coherently based on the LHC measurements. The full determination of the higher dimensional operators will be the first global precision test of general extensions to the SM. The ERC Starting Grant will make it possible to bring together a team that will conduct more efficient measurements then today at the ATLAS experiment, that will establish the framework for new precision tests, and will generate results of yet unforeseeable potential. With DIMO6FIT I will establish an exciting programme aiming at determining the higher dimensional operators, which will help uncover new physics and elucidate its nature. These novel studies will form a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of the fundamental interactions of known and possibly yet unknown particles.

1 497 000 €

Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31

The study of host-pathogen systems is of central importance to the control of infectious disease, but also provides unique opportunities to observe evolution in action. Many pathogen species have diversified under selection pressures from the host; conversely, genes that are important in host defence also exhibit high degrees of polymorphism. This proposal divides into two parts: (1) the evolution of pathogen diversity under host immune selection, and (2) the evolution of host diversity under pathogen selection. I have developed a body of theoretical work showing that discrete population structures can arise through immune selection rather than limitations on genetic exchange. The predictions of this framework concerning the structure and dynamics of antigenic, metabolic and virulence genes will be empirically tested using three different systems: the bacterial pathogen, Neisseira meningitidis, the influenza virus, and the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The current theory will also be expanded and modified to address a number of outstanding questions such whether it can explain the occurrence of influenza pandemics. With regard to host diversity, we will be attempting to validate and extend a novel framework incoporating epistatic interactions between malaria-protective genetic disorders of haemoglobin to understand their intriguing geographical distribution and their mode of action against the malarial disease. We will also be exploring the potential of mechanisms that can organise pathogens into discrete strains to generate patterns among host genes responsible for pathogen recognition, such as the Major Histocompatibility Complex. The co-evolution of hosts and pathogens under immune selection thus forms the ultimate theme of this proposal.

1 670 632 €

Start date: 2011-06-01, End date: 2017-05-31

Insects vary in their susceptibility to viral infection, and this variation affects disease transmission by vectors and the survival of beneficial insects. Identifying the genes that cause this variation will provide insights into both the molecular interactions between insects and their parasites, and the processes that maintain this variation in populations. We propose to do this in Drosophila, where genome-wide association studies are now possible thanks to the publication of large numbers of genome sequences. Furthermore, new techniques allow the sequence of Drosophila genes to be precisely altered, which will allow the exact molecular changes affecting resistance to be confirmed experimentally. Using these powerful techniques, we will first identify genes that affect resistance to a diverse panel of different viruses, which will allow us to understand the molecular and cellular basis of how resistance to different groups of viruses evolves in nature. Next, we will repeat this analysis using different isolates of the same virus, to identify the molecular basis of the ‘specific’ resistance commonly observed in invertebrates, where different host genotypes are resistant to different parasite genotypes. Once we have identified the polymorphisms that affect resistance, we can then use these results to examine the evolutionary processes that maintain this variation in populations: are alleles that increase resistance costly, how has natural selection acted on the polymorphisms, and is there more variation if the virus has naturally coevolved with Drosophila than if the virus was isolated from another insect. Finally, by hybridising D. melanogaster to D. simulans, we will extend these experiments to identify genes that cause species to differ in resistance, which will reveal the molecular basis of how resistance evolves over millions of years and how viruses adapt to their hosts.

1 498 072 €

Start date: 2011-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31

Fire has played a key role in the evolutionary success of our species and has shaped the abundance of life that we see on our planet today. Wildfires have influenced the history of plant life for 410 million years where 5 key plant evolutionary events have occurred that led to variations in fire behaviour. Variations in fire behaviour determine a fire’s severity and its impact on an ecosystem. In order to assess palaeofire severity the heat delivered by a fire and the duration for which it remains at a site must be estimated. Currently we are unable to estimate palaeofire behaviour and are therefore unable to predict the ecological impact of palaeofires. ECOFLAM will change this by combining for the first time state-of-the-art flammability experiments with innovative modelling approaches to reconstruct variations in palaeofire behaviour due to plant innovations. ECOFLAM will establish relationships between plant traits that are measurable in the fossil record, and their flammability. It will construct simple metrics that can be applied to assess the nature of fires occurring in a fossil flora. Then using a frontier approach ECOFLAM will apply mathematical models to create the first ever estimates of palaeofire behaviour. ECOFLAM will: 1) estimate fire behaviour in Earth’s earliest forests, 2) assess the impact of the evolution of gymnosperm conifers on changes in fire regime and fire behaviour 3) test the hypothesis that early angiosperms utilised fire to invade and out compete gymnosperm forests, 4) test the hypothesis that expansion of neotropical forests led to suppression of fire and 5) track the ability of increases in grass fuel to enhance ecosystem flammability enabling expansion of the savanna biome. ECOFLAM will collaborate with an artist to visually express the relationship between fire and plants to bring fire science to the arts and public. Finally via an exciting link with Morgan Stanley, London ECOFLAM will explore the economic impact of wildfires.

1 519 640 €

Start date: 2013-10-01, End date: 2018-09-30

"Membrane lipids form the structural basis of all cells. In bacteria Escherichia coli uses predominantly phosphorus-containing lipids (phospholipids) in its cell envelope, including phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. However, beyond E. coli a range of lipids are found in bacterial membranes, including phospholipids as well as phosphorus (P)-free lipids such as betaine lipids, ornithine lipids, sulfolipids and glycolipids. In the marine environment, it is well established that P availability significantly affects lipid composition in the phytoplankton, whereby non-P sulfur-containing lipids are used to substitute phospholipids in response to P stress. This remodeling offers a significant competitive advantage for these organisms, allowing them to adapt to oligotrophic environments low in P. Until very recently, abundant marine heterotrophic bacteria were thought to lack the capacity for lipid remodelling in response to P deficiency. However, recent work by myself and others has now demonstrated that lipid remodelling occurs in many ecologically important marine heterotrophs, such as the SAR11 and Roseobacter clades, which are not only numerically abundant in marine waters but also crucial players in the biogeochemical cycling of key elements. However, the ecological and physiological consequences of lipid remodeling, in response to nutrient limitation, remain unknown. This is important because I hypothesize that lipid remodeling has important knock-on effects restricting the ability of marine bacteria to deal with both abiotic and biotic stresses, which has profound consequences for the functioning of major biogeochemical cycles. Here I aim to use a synthesis of molecular biology, microbial physiology, and "omics" approaches to reveal the fitness trade-offs of lipid remodelling in cosmopolitan marine heterotrophic bacteria, providing novel insights into the ecophysiology of lipid remodelling and its consequences for marine nutrient cycling."

1 965 114 €

Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31

I propose to build an instrument that cools YbF molecules to microK temperature using laser light, and throws them up as a fountain in free fall. This will be used to detect CP-violating elementary particle interactions that caused our universe to evolve an excess of matter over antimatter These interactions cause the charge distribution of the electron to be slightly non-spherical and it is this property, the permanent electric dipole moment (EDM), that the ultracold molecules will sense. Laser cooling of any molecule is very new, with first results emerging from a few laboratories including mine. Developing a fountain of molecules will be a major advance in the state of the art. As well as being the key to the new EDM instrument, this will be important in its own right because ultracold molecules have major applications in chemistry, quantum information processing and metrology. In the fountain, the electron spin of each molecule will be polarized. On applying a perpendicular electric field, the spins will precess in proportion to the EDM. At present the (warm) YbF molecules in my lab precess for only 1ms. This gives us world-leading sensitivity, but has not been sufficient to detect the CP-violating forces being sought. The fountain however will achieve precession times of almost a second, giving over 1000x more rotation. The increase in sensitivity should reveal a clear EDM, providing information about the fundamental laws of physics, and the important CP-violating physics of the early universe, which is currently not understood. By advancing the preparation of ultracold molecules, this project will address a key question in particle physics and cosmology: the nature of CP-violating physics beyond the standard model. The approach is radically different from standard accelerator physics and complements it. The sensitivity is sufficient to detect some proposed new forces that are beyond the reach of any current collider experiment.

2 409 629 €

Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31

The understanding of quantum matter in and out of equilibrium is among the biggest challenges of modern physics. Despite decades of research fundamental questions, such as the precise workings behind rather ubiquitous materials such as high temperature superconductors are still unresolved. At the same time there is a new generation of experiments approaching which realises and probes quantum matter with novel and exotic interactions at an unprecedented level of precision. This has already highlighted new avenues of research but also demands for radically new theoretical approaches which lie outside the scope of just a single traditional physical discipline. Novel and in particular multidisciplinary lines of thinking are required to tackle this immense challenge. Such new research will not solely be delivering invaluable insights into currently unresolved problems but rather form a new basis for the understanding of quantum matter from a multidisciplinary perspective. This will open up new horizons for fundamental research and at the same time will pave the way for future technologies and materials which rely on non-equilibrium phenomena or quantum matter. This research proposal takes on this challenge by setting up a broad theoretical research programme which is multipronged and multidisciplinary and which directly connects to the most recent research efforts in ultra cold atomic physics. Here currently a step change is taking place where new experiments explore strongly correlated quantum physics within gases of excited atoms – so-called Rydberg atoms. Exploiting this unique moment we will develop a framework for the description of the equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of these complex and very versatile quantum systems. This system-specific research approach has the advantage that theoretical predictions can be verified experimentally and applied in practice almost immediately, leading to research attacking the frontiers of current knowledge.

1 492 000 €

Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31

Microbes evolve rapidly in changing environments, and global change may soon cause future microbial populations to differ genetically and phenotypically from contemporary populations. We have both pragmatic and intellectual interests in microbial evolution, especially when microbial communities perform important ecological services. For example, marine phytoplankton are responsible for half of global primary production, and make up the biological carbon sink in oceans. However, marine environments are changing in complex ways, and future global carbon and energy cycles may depend heavily on how phytoplankton evolve in response to global change. My research will study how photosynthetic microbes evolve in complex environments. First, I will use mathematical models and experimental evolution in a microalgal model system to compare phenotypic changes between populations that have evolved either in an environment where many variables change simultaneously, or in an environment where only one variable changes at a time. Second, I will use the same model system to study if and how heritable epigenetic change, such as methylation and miRNA regulation, affects long-term adaptation. Both sets of experiments will use environmental shifts that are associated with global change, thus providing information specific to marine phytoplankton evolution, as well as insight into fundamental evolutionary processes. Finally, I will use RAD sequening in natural algal isolates from high CO2 environments to map and produce a list of candidate loci that may have contributed to long-term evolution in elevated CO2. The results of this work will significantly improve our ability to use evolutionary theory to understand how microbes are likely to change over the coming decades.

1 492 338 €

Start date: 2011-05-01, End date: 2017-04-30

The capacity for culture is clearly a critical factor underlying the success of our species, but how and why did it evolve? What are the selection pressures that favoured the evolution of cultural capabilities (e.g. social learning, innovation, teaching), and how has selection fashioned these to operate efficiently? The study of such abilities is central to a broad range of disciplines, and significant progress in the scientific understanding of their origin and operation will ripple out to exert considerable influence, both within and outside academia. This project utilises a broad but integrated package of highly innovative empirical and theoretical techniques, including the development of novel analytical tools that allow behavioural researchers to identify social learning and predict the diffusion of innovations, application of potentially revolutionary statistical methods for inferring causal influences on the evolution of brain and culture from correlational data, and a new empirical system providing an unparalleled opportunity to investigate the evolution and biological basis of social learning. I will also organize international competitions to identify effective social learning rules ( tournaments ), in which entrants each propose learning strategies that are pitted against each other in computer simulation, and the most effective wins a prize. Collectively, the projects offer a major step forward in our understanding of human evolution, adaptation and culture and will stimulate considerable interdisciplinary exchange.

2 128 195 €

Start date: 2009-04-01, End date: 2015-03-31

To make for better diagnostics and safer applications of genomics we need a better understanding of our genome and how it functions. Until recently we thought we knew: intergenic sequence must be largely “junk” and mutations that, for example, affect genes but not the protein (synonymous mutations) must be effectively neutral. This degenerate genome view accords with the nearly-neutral theory’s prediction that selection will be weaker when populations are small. But is this all there is to it? I shall investigate two new interrelated perspectives on genome evolution. First, I suggest that to mitigate errors, owing to our high error rates, our genome can be under stronger, not weaker, selection. Second, that errors might be a source of evolutionary novelty. Error mitigation, my team has shown, often involves selection on seemingly innocuous mutations such as synonymous changes. Remarkably, we discovered that selection to ensure error-proof splicing is possibly more prevalent on synonymous mutations when populations are small, making seemingly innocuous mutations stronger candidates for human diseases. I shall provide the first test of the new error-proofing perspective through comparative genomic analysis on synonymous site evolution. To investigate error as a source of novelty I shall consider whether expression piggy-backing (expression of a gene affecting its neighbors) forces rewiring of gene networks. Importantly, I shall translate our new understanding to enable better diagnostics and improved therapeutics. I shall develop a much-needed computer package to identify candidate disease-causing synonymous changes. In addition, knowing how synonymous sites modulate splicing will allow me to design better intronless transgenes. Transgenes must also be inserted in genomic regions immune to piggy-backing. I will examine transposable element related piggy-backing to characterize “safe” sites for therapeutic gene insertion and mammalian transgenesis more generally.

2 497 996 €

Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31

Bacteria have a range of immune mechanisms, but it is unclear why this diverse armamentarium evolved. The most important immune mechanisms are (1) Surface Modification (SM) (2) Abortive infection (Abi) (3) Restriction Modification (R-M) (4) CRISPR-Cas and (5) prokaryotic Argonaute (pAgo), all of which can occur as stand-alone mechanisms or in combination. The individual mechanisms differ in key aspects, such as their fitness costs (constitutive versus inducible), specificity (indiscriminate versus specific), the recipient of the benefits (individual versus group), the speed of de novo resistance evolution (rapid versus slow), and heritability of immunity. Here I will take a combined in vitro and in vivo approach to tease apart the variables that drive the evolution of these diverse stand-alone and integrated bacterial immune strategies in nature, and examine their associated co-evolutionary dynamics. I focus on three ecological variables that are consistently important in host-symbiont co-evolution: (1) force of infection (2) spatial structure (3) presence of mutualists (plasmids). First, I will perform in vitro manipulations using Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 variants that carry either single or multiple immune mechanisms. Next, I will sequence metagenomes, transcriptomes and viromes of microbial communities from environments that differ in ecological variables that are important in vitro, to examine their importance in vivo. Key ecological mechanisms identified in the first two parts of the project will be used to guide mesocosm experiments to experimentally confirm that these mechanisms are the drivers of the observed patterns of resistance and co-evolution in nature. Finally, I will share my data with mathematical biologists to generate theoretical models to predict and manipulate the evolution of bacterial immune mechanisms, which will facilitate tailored species protection in agriculture and industry.

1 498 337 €

Start date: 2017-01-01, End date: 2021-12-31

Humans live in groups of huge numbers of genetically unrelated individuals due to culturally-inherited social rules (“institutions”) that structure groups and provide solutions to coordination and collective action problems. However, only in certain places have societies developed more “inclusive” institutions (e.g. democratic governance, the rule of law) that enable the majority of the population (not just elites) to participate in economic and political activities. Fundamental questions about the evolution of institutions still remain. This project will go beyond existing research by employing an overarching cultural evolutionary framework to address a number of outstanding issues such as: How do institutions evolve over time?, How do cultural and ecological factors affect how institutions emerge and spread?, Why have certain institutions emerged or been adopted in only a limited number of places? I will apply innovative statistical, computational and theoretical models from biology to formally and rigorously test a range of hypotheses concerning the evolution of institutions. The project has 3 main objectives (O). In O1 I will use phylogenetic methods to infer the entangled evolutionary history of the institutions that groups possess. In O2 I will employ epidemiological and comparative statistical models, to investigate what factors affect the probability of institutions spreading between societies. In O3 I will use computer simulations to examine how ecological and social factors have led to the emergence of institutions for collective action in some parts of the world but not others. The objectives of this project therefore involve both modelling and empirically assessing theories using cross-national and historical data on institutions and other relevant variables. This more integrated approach will create a step-change in our understanding of institutional change and how evolutionary and ecological processes have shaped the world we live in today.

1 499 462 €

Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31

This proposal combines novel experimentation and physical insight with state-of-the-art advances in technology to establish the field of exciton-polariton physics in major new directions. The new physics takes advantage of unique polariton properties including very light mass, strong non-linearities, bosonic character and direct access to density, phase and quantum statistics. The major goals are: 1. Transform the field into the regime of non-classical polariton physics. Major steps forward will include the polariton blockade where one polariton prevents the passage of the next, and very fast 10-100 GHz single photon sources, opening the way to realisation of a variety of strongly correlated photon phenomena in a solid state system. 2. Achieve a quantum phase transition in a system with strong inter-particle interactions, with particular opportunities deriving from the non-equilibrium nature of the polariton system. 3. In the many particle regime, create non-dispersing polariton wave-packets, study collisions and create the first polariton circuits, capitalising on advantageous soliton and condensate properties. As well as the polariton area, the project will impact on several broader fields: semiconductor physics in revealing new interaction phenomena on the nanoscale, quantum optics and information science in the realisation of very fast single photon sources and quantum circuit functions, and new high density collective phase physics towards exploitation as opto-electronic logic gates and circuits. Advances in technology will be crucial to enable the new directions. They will include fabrication of highly uniform cavities using innovation in crystal growth, the pioneering of a new type of polariton system, waveguide polaritons, and the use of open cavities to permit the application of very short wavelength periodic potentials. These technology goals are challenging but achievable, and have potential to enable major advances over the next 5 to 10 years.

2 100 000 €

Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31

Following the discovery of a Higgs boson with a mass of about 125 GeV, a detailed set of property measurements has confirmed that it plays a central role in the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry. Nevertheless, its role in the generation of fermion mass, in particular of the first and second generation, is still unclear. In the Standard Model (SM) this is implemented in an ad hoc manner through Yukawa interactions, and many beyond-the-SM theories offer rich phenomenology and exciting prospects for the discovery of New Physics in this sector. This project will attack - for the first time - in a systematic and comprehensive way the experimentally most unconstrained sector of the SM: the couplings of the light-quarks (up, down, charm and strange) to the Higgs boson, including possible flavour-violating interactions. The rare exclusive Higgs boson decays to a meson and a photon or Z boson, which is a novel and unique approach, will be searched for with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). At the same time, an extensive set of measurements of analogous rare exclusive decays of the W and Z bosons will be performed, further enhancing the scientific value of the proposed research programme. The expected branching ratio sensitivity of 10^{-6} for the Higgs boson decays, and 10^{-9} for the W and Z boson decays will probe viable New Physics models, and in several cases will reach and surpass the SM predictions. This project will lead to a profound extension of the ATLAS and LHC physics output, going beyond what was previously considered possible. It will open a new line of research in the Higgs sector, providing relevant input to many different areas of frontier research, including particle cosmology and planning for possible future particle physics facilities.

1 499 945 €

Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28

Quantum oscillations have revealed signature Fermi surfaces in a diverse range of materials families, with breakthrough advances made by a synthesis of theoretical modelling, experimental vision, materials preparation, and advances in measurement technique. Traditionally, the very observation of a Fermi surface has been taken to imply an underlying Fermi liquid. In this proposal, we seek to transcend this traditional paradigm in the field of correlated electron systems and define a new framework for the observation of quantum oscillations associated with a novel Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid. Guided by a selection of theoretical proposals, we identify for study materials families starting from the more readily modellable correlated Mott insulators and Kondo insulators without the complication of mobile electrons. We progress to regions where mobile electrons are introduced – where we select for study the doped Mott insulating cuprate superconductors. Eventually we access the intervening region of unconventional quantum critical physics where a Fermi surface in the absence of a conventional Fermi liquid transitions to a Fermi surface underpinned by a conventional Fermi liquid, by lattice-density tuning of selected materials. We propose to investigate the Fermi surface of these regimes of correlated materials phase space that defy conventional Fermi liquid behaviour by the use of advanced quantum oscillation techniques in selected high purity correlated materials, under either ambient pressure conditions or under lattice-density tuning, and using high magnetic fields. We expect the project outcome to have a substantive impact on our understanding of correlated electron systems, especially in hitherto opaque regions of phase space where Fermi liquid behaviour breaks down. We thus anticipate a new era where quantum oscillations serve as a diagnostic for novel phases of correlated matter that lack a conventional Fermi liquid description.

2 127 851 €

Start date: 2019-04-01, End date: 2024-03-31

Flight is thought to be one of the most energetically costly of bird activities. These costs matter by virtue of their magnitude, as factors affecting flight costs can have a disproportionate impact on the overall energy balance. Flight costs are fundamentally linked to airflows, as well as behavioural responses to them, because birds react to horizontal and vertical currents by changing flight mode (i.e. flapping/ gliding), speed and route. Even minor route adjustments can radically affect the flow conditions that birds experience due to the uniquely dynamic and heterogeneous nature of the aerial environment. Yet our understanding of how airflows impact birds is in its infancy, being constrained by a lack of information on the metabolic costs of flight. Currently, the main methods for measuring flight costs in the laboratory either restrain the bird (thereby increasing energy expenditure) or suffer from low resolution, and field methods do not allow costs to be resolved in relation to fine scale movement paths. FLIGHT will use interdisciplinary approaches, integrating laboratory and field techniques, to address these grand challenges. Breakthrough methodologies will be used to (1) measure the costs of unrestrained bird flight in the laboratory and (2) derive a new proxy for power use in flight that is linked to flight performance, using accelerometry measurements from cutting-edge data loggers. Loggers will then be (3) deployed on wild birds to quantify their responses to airflows and the energetic consequences over fine scales. This will provide completely novel, mechanistic insight into the way the physical environment impacts flight costs, and (4) enable variation in flight–related energy expenditure to be modelled geographically and seasonally in model species. Overall, FLIGHT will provide new macro-ecological insight into relationships between bird distributions and flow conditions and inform assessments of how birds may be affected by changing wind regimes.

1 996 043 €

Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31

Quantum field theories with local gauge symmetry are building blocks of the modern theory of fundamental interactions between elementary particles. The basic example is Quantum Chromo Dynamics. There is strong evidence that QCD is the correct theory of strong interactions, but it has been difficult to use it to account for many hadronic phenomena which is due to large value of gauge coupling at low energies. Theoretical understanding of gauge theory dynamics at large values of coupling when one cannot use the Feynman diagram perturbation theory is a major problem of physics of strong interactions. Goals include analytic computation of mass spectrum of hadrons, etc. The general aim of this proposal is to develop new theoretical tools to describe strongly coupled gauge theories. Research in the last decade brought strong evidence that connection of gauge theories to string theory should be a key to solution of this problem. Gauge-string duality and, in particular, Anti deSitter / conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence is one of the most active directions of current work in theory of fundamental interactions. A remarkable progress was achieved towards quantitative understanding of this relation in the most symmetric case of maximally supersymmetric gauge theory in flat 4 dimensions dual to superstring theory in curved 10-dimensional AdS5 x S5 space. We propose a detailed study of this duality from the string theory side using world-sheet methods and hidden integrability of the maximally symmetric theory. The goal is to provide a first-principles proof of the duality for the spectrum of states and also to establish its validity at the level of correlation functions of conformal operators. We also plan to extend string-theoretic approach to gauge-string duality to less symmetric cases, corresponding, in particular, to certain non-supersymmetric conformal and n=1 supersymmetric non-conformal planar gauge theories.

1 679 584 €

Start date: 2012-02-01, End date: 2017-09-30

While the three sub-atomic forces are described by quantum mechanics, the fourth known force, gravity, is described by Einstein's theory of general relativity. These two very successful theories are incompatible, and understanding how to unify them in a single framework is an outstanding problem. String theory is the most prominent candidate for a unified theory of all forces of Nature. The most important conceptual breakthrough that emerged from string theory is Maldacena's conjectured duality between quantum field theory and gravity, known as AdS/CFT correspondence. This states that strings moving in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space-time, may equivalently be described by a type of quantum theory, called conformal field theory (CFT). More generally, it is a remarkable duality between quantum gauge theories in d dimensions and gravitational theories in (d+1)-dimensional space-times, implying that quantum theory and gravity, instead of being conflicting, are in fact equivalent. In this project I will aim at extending the gauge/gravity duality in multiple directions, which go beyond the current state of the art. In order to achieve a deeper understanding of the gauge/gravity duality I plan to develop novel mathematical approaches, that are likely to lead to new research directions in different areas of physics and mathematics. More specifically, the objectives of this project include: a systematic study of AdS backgrounds arising in string theory as a method for exploring CFTs; the development of geometric structures, such as generalised Sasaki-Einstein geometry, relevant for the AdS/CFT correspondence; a study of supersymmetric gauge theories on curved manifolds and of their gravity duals; a study of dualities between pairs of gauge theories and of related matrix models arising from localisation techniques; exploring the gauge/gravity duality as a tool for studying strongly interacting quantum critical phenomena, such as those that are of interest to real-world physics.

1 253 098 €

Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31

The proposed research programme addresses issues of fundamental and technological importance in quantum information science and its interplay with complexity. The main aim of this project is to provide a new paradigmatic foundation for the characterisation of quantumness in cooperative phenomena and to develop novel platforms for its practical utilisation in quantum technology applications. To reach its main goal, this programme will target five specific objectives: O1. Constructing a quantitative theory of quantumness in composite systems; O2. Benchmarking genuine quantumness in information and communication protocols; O3. Devising practical solutions for quantum-enhanced metrology in noisy conditions; O4. Developing quantum thermal engineering for refrigerators and heat engines; O5. Establishing a cybernetics framework for regulative phenomena in the quantum domain. This project is deeply driven by the scientific curiosity to explore the ultimate range of applicability of quantum mechanics. Along the route to satisfying such curiosity, this project will fulfill a crucial two-fold mission. On the fundamental side, it will lead to a radically new level of understanding of quantumness, in its various manifestations, and the functional role it plays for natural and artificial complex systems traditionally confined to a classical domain of investigation. On the practical side, it will deliver novel concrete recipes for communication, sensing and cooling technologies in realistic conditions, rigorously assessing in which ways and to which extent these can be enhanced by engineering and harnessing quantumness. Along with a skillful team which this grant will allow to assemble, benefitting from the vivid research environment at Nottingham, and mainly thanks to his creativity, broad mathematical and physical preparation and relevant inter-disciplinary expertise, the applicant is in a unique position to accomplish this timely and ambitious mission.

1 351 461 €

Start date: 2015-05-01, End date: 2020-04-30

This projects aims to explore physics of the new class of materials: atomically thin films of layered crystals. Graphene, because of its extraordinary electronic properties, will be a major focus of this project. In view of application of graphene in electronics, we shall model electronic transport and dynamical properties of devices based upon epitaxial graphene (monolayer and bilayer), graphene deposited on atomically flat substrates, and chemically modified graphene. In the family of graphene, the bilayer allotrope is the less understood, though it has already been discovered to have quite unique electronic properties, and we shall develop theories of the electron-electron correlation effects, quantum transport and quantum Hall effect in bilayer graphene. But beyond graphene, we shall also investigate electronic properties of ultrathin films of hexagonal boron nitride on account of its insulating and optical properties, and on account of their use in hybrid devices such as graphene/h-BN based transistors. In parallel, we shall search for new opportunities in the world of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. For this, we shall model theoretically electronic properties, correlations effects, optical properties, and electronic transport properties of single layers and bilayers of hexagonal transition-metal dichalcogenides with a broad range of composition and ultrathin films of bismuth-based trichalcogenides.

430 271 €

Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2013-10-31

In social animals, the characteristics and dynamics of groups affect the development of individuals, the selection pressures operating on them and the demography of populations. Using existing study populations of two social mammals (Kalahari meerkats and Damaraland mole-rats) that offer unique and complementary opportunities for research, we shall (1) explore the effects of variation in group size on growth, behaviour, hormonal status and gene regulation in both species and test suggestions that (i) increasing group size generates divergence in development among group members and the formation of incipient castes and (ii) that breeding extends female longevity rather than reducing it; (2) assess the extent and causes of variation in group longevity and in the frequency with which groups generate new breeding units, model the relative impact of selection operating at different levels on the evolution of cooperation, and investigate whether there is any indication that the behaviour of individuals is adapted to increasing group persistence or proliferation; (3) examine the effects of group size and group dynamics on the dynamics of populations and their responses to variation in rainfall, temperature and epidemic disease (TB), generalise these models to explore the population dynamics of cooperative breeders and explore their consequences for the evolution of cooperative breeding. Our work involves novel approaches to the measurement and analysis of development, communication and gene regulation in wild animals, and to modelling multi-level selection and the dynamics of hierarchically structured populations. It will provide insight into the social mechanisms affecting individual development, multi-level selection and the population dynamics and management of group-living animals.

2 499 244 €

Start date: 2018-07-01, End date: 2023-06-30

Many species have independently evolved similar phenotypes in response to similar environmental challenges. This phenomenon, termed convergent evolution, reflects both the power and the limits of adaptation. However, we often do not know at what scale evolution has repeated itself: did selection act on the same genes in different populations or species, or did convergence result from selection on different genes? This is because, until recently, it has not been possible to investigate the genomic basis of evolution in most systems, limiting our understanding of the factors that facilitate or inhibit convergence and adaptation. To fully understand convergent evolution we need to query the genomic response to selection and determine genotype-phenotype links in systems where convergent adaptation is well established. The Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a system that offers the opportunity to test the roles of multiple factors in convergent evolution: this species includes multiple natural and experimentally established populations that have repeatedly evolved similar phenotypes under similar predation environments. I propose to fully characterize the genomic-basis of repeated adaptive evolution in guppies. Aim 1 will identify regions that repeatedly show signatures of selection, and will contrast the nature of selection in natural and experimental populations that differ in age and levels of founding genetic diversity. Aim 2 will identify genomic regions associated with phenotypes that are known to play a significant role in local adaptation in the guppy using quantitative genetics approaches. I will then directly test the effects of candidate genes using novel functional genomic approaches, as detailed in Aim 3. Overall, this project will test whether repeated selection led to convergence at the genomic level, determine the genetic basis of convergent adaptations, and ultimately understand how convergent evolution has occurred in an important wild system.

1 488 763 €

Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31

"Higher-dimensional General Relativity (GR) is well-motivated by string theory e.g. via the gauge/gravity correspondence or scenarios that predict black hole production at the Large Hadron Collider. In this proposal it is regarded as a self-contained mathematical subject that extends conventional 4d GR. It is known that higher-dimensional GR exhibits qualitative differences from 4d GR, especially for black holes, e.g. there exist ""black ring"" solutions describing rotating, donut-shaped black holes. It is likely that there are many other interesting solutions. This project will investigate the following topics in higher-dimensional GR: 1. Methods for obtaining explicit solutions of the Einstein equation, especially those based on algebraic classification of the Weyl tensor; 2. Classical stability of black holes; 3. Classification of black hole solutions: What data is required to specify uniquely black hole solutions? What are the allowed topologies and symmetries of black holes?"

1 337 044 €

Start date: 2011-11-01, End date: 2016-10-31

The HIV eclipse phase typically refers to the time between a virus entering a sexually exposed person and detection of viral RNA in their plasma. Of the four phases of HIV-1 infection (eclipse, acute, chronic and AIDS), the eclipse phase is currently the only window of opportunity for viral clearance. Systemic infection is currently irreversible after the onset of the acute phase. Preventing systemic HIV infection after exposure, therefore, requires understanding and targeting the eclipse phase. Information on this phase, however, is partial and indirect, with fundamental gaps in our knowledge of its role in limiting transmission, in determining the efficacy of infection control strategies, and in governing later infection. Mathematical modelling, when combined with statistical inference, is a useful tool for hypothesis testing and prediction using incomplete information. To date, however, there are no mathematical models that are particularly suitable because current models do not account for two important characteristics of eclipse phase infection. First, none of these models reconcile the very small per-exposure HIV-1 acquisition probability with the high estimate of the basic reproductive number, R0, during acute phase infection. Second, models of acute phase plasma viral load obscure early local dynamics of HIV when the virus forms local, heterogeneous clusters of infection in the genital mucosa before entering the lymphatic and blood systems. My research programme will develop novel models of HIV that are calibrated to diverse data sources to ascertain whether eclipse phase dynamics determine the acquisition of HIV and later infection dynamics. I will use phylogenetic analysis of HIV samples to quantify the role of the transmitting partner in determining viral inoculum dose size, eclipse phase dynamics and HIV acquisition. This research will generate testable predictions for exposed populations and aim to propose novel methods for infection prevention.

1 340 388 €

Start date: 2018-03-01, End date: 2023-02-28

Superconductors promote electrical currents without loss and are exploited for applications like magnets in medical imaging. Further applications like large scale usage in electrical power generation and transmission, however, are limited by the need to cool materials below a critical temperature Tc. Thus, novel superconductors with higher Tc are highly desirable. High Tc has been predicted almost 50 years ago for hydrogen and hydrogen compounds but was only confirmed in 2015 with the discovery of superconductivity at a record temperature of 203K in hydrogen sulphide H3S at high pressures. This long term effort highlights that finding new superconductors remains challenging as theory is very limited in predicting specific compounds for high-temperature superconductivity. The reason for this is that a favourable combination of materials and electronic properties is needed. This project will unravel the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity in H3S, derive design principles, and find new high-temperature superconductors. We will measure key parameters of the superconducting state in H3S including the London penetration depth, coherence length, superconducting gap, charge carrier concentration, electron-phonon coupling, and Fermi surface topology as well as the isotope effect on these. This will be achieved through measurements of the critical field, Hall effect, quantum oscillations, and tunnelling spectroscopy. This insight will be used to derive design principles for new superconductors with increased Tc and at lower pressures. We will work together with theory and materials science to predict, synthesise and test novel superconductors working towards hydrogen based high-temperature superconductivity at ambient pressure. We will focus on two materials classes with high hydrogen content: i) phosphanes with excellent control of complementary elements and ii) hydrogen storage materials alanates and borohydrades with light complementary elements.

1 809 752 €

Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31

Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells promise to be a major contributor to our future energy supply, and the current silicon and thin film photovoltaic industry is growing at a fast rate (25 to 80% pa). Despite this however, only 10 to 20 GW of the total 15TW global energy demand is met by PV generated power. The ramping up in production and affordable global uptake of solar energy requires a significant reduction in materials and manufacture costs and furthermore, a solar industry on the TW scale must be based on abundant and preferably non-toxic materials. The challenge facing the photovoltaic industry is cost effectiveness through much lower embodied energy. Plastic electronics and solution-processable inorganic semiconductors can revolutionise this industry due to their ease of processing (low embodied energy), but a significant increase in performance is required. To enable this jump in performance in a timely manner, incremental improvements and optimisations (evolutionary approaches) are unlikely to provide sufficiently rapid advances and a paradigm shift, such as that described in this project, is thus required. HYPER is lead by Henry Snaith, a prominent young scientist developing hybrid and organic based solar cells. The project will create a new series of hybrid solar cells, based on photoactive semiconductor nanocrystals and light absorbing polymer semiconductors. At the core of the research is the synthesis of new semiconductor and metallic nanostructures, combined with device development and advanced spectroscopic characterisation. The central operational principle to be developed is long range energy transfer of photoexcitons from the bulk of the semiconductors to the charge generating material interfaces, maximising charge generation in these thin film composites Combined with this, advanced photonic structuring of the photoactive layers, and the introduction of nano-plasmonic light harvesting components will represent a new paradigm for hybrid solar cells.

1 870 337 €

Start date: 2011-11-01, End date: 2016-10-31

INCORALS will establish a novel conceptual model that introduces a transition of symbiotic algae from a nutrient limited to a nutrient starved state as a process that renders reef building corals more susceptible to heat stress. Elevated temperatures have been identified as the key driver for coral bleaching, which is the often fatal loss of corals’ symbiotic algae. Thus, studies have estimated that reefs will be lost within the next one hundred years as a result of global warming. High temperatures undoubtedly play a major role in triggering coral bleaching. However, observations made for instance during the 1998 bleaching event, suggest also a connection between the susceptibility of corals to heat stress and anthropogenically elevated nutrient levels. Here, I present evidence that unbalanced ratios of dissolved inorganic nitrogen to phosphorus in the water column perturb the lipid composition of photosynthetic membranes of zooxanthellae and result in an increased susceptibility to thermal bleaching. I have developed a novel conceptual model of coral bleaching that introduces nutrient starvation as a cause for increased heat stress susceptibility. The model clarifies the previously unexplained correlation between the reduction of the thermal bleaching threshold of corals and their exposure to coastal run-off with elevated concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen. INCORALS will conduct an in-depth study of nutrient starvation of reef corals, comparing the impact of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. INCORALS will combine physiological experiments under tightly controlled laboratory conditions and field-based studies, using a suite of optical methods and cutting-edge molecular techniques to study this yet unexplored cause of coral bleaching and define its relevance for coral ecosystems. The improved understanding of coral bleaching gained during this project is urgently required to develop knowledge-based management strategies to support coral reef resilience.

1 285 671 €

Start date: 2012-11-01, End date: 2017-10-31

Quantum field theory forms the foundation of our understanding of elementary particle physics. It provides the theoretical background for the interpretation of data from collider experiments. While quantum field theory is an old subject, over the last decade new features have begun to emerge which reveal new ways to understand it. In particular an astonishing simplicity has been found at the heart of the maximally supersymmetric gauge theory in four spacetime dimensions, a close cousin of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which describes the strong interactions. My research team will use the new methods I have been developing to construct explicit results for scattering amplitudes and correlation functions. We will develop these results into general statements about the analytic behaviour of scattering amplitudes. The approach will be based on my recent work on new dualities between amplitudes and Wilson loops and on new symmetries revealing an underlying integrable structure. This research will allow us to answer key foundational questions such as the origin of Regge behaviour of scattering amplitudes in the high energy limit, and the connection to string theory in the limit of strong coupling. We will also pursue the connection to quantum groups and formulate the problem of scattering amplitudes in this language. This provide a solid mathematical underpinning to the formulation of the scattering problem in quantum field theories and allow application of techniques from the field of integrable systems to gauge theories. An enormous effort goes into performing the calculations of scattering amplitudes needed to make precise predictions for collider experiments. New techniques to handle such calculations are much needed. We will develop new tools, such as the application of differential equation methods for loop integrals and analytic bootstrap methods for amplitudes. This research will allow us to greatly improve on existing efforts to calculate processes in QCD.

1 992 452 €

Start date: 2015-10-01, End date: 2020-09-30

Precision tests at high energy colliders are an essential tool for gaining insight into the nature of the Standard Model of particle physics and the fundamental interactions. The data currently being obtained by the LHC experiments will allow a large number of observables to be measured at a percent level accuracy. This data has the potential to probe deeper into the flaws of the Standard Model. However, the complexity of theoretical predictions using perturbative quantum field theory currently prevents many of these precision tests. JetDynamics aims for a breakthrough in precision predictions for the measurements of Standard Model interactions through the study of the dynamics of multiple strongly interacting hadronic jets. Percent level predictions for 2 to 3 scattering processes involving the Higgs boson and electroweak vector bosons will allow a unique insight into fundamental properties of the Standard Model in the new high energy region probed by the LHC. In order to achieve this goal a complete set of quantum corrections at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in perturbation theory are required. JetDynamics bridges the gap between mathematics physics and experimental collider physics and will develop a new generation of computational tools and methods} that will overcome current bottlenecks. The work program attacks this problem on two fronts: A) Develop revolutionary new ideas from the study of on-shell scattering amplitudes to address the current bottlenecks in the computation of multi-leg two loop amplitudes in QCD. B) Develop highly efficient tools for NNLO predictions with multi-jet final states and perform precision phenomenological studies of jet dynamics at the LHC. C) Lay groundwork for jet production beyond NNLO and build towards 1% perturbative accuracy. JetDynamics will lead to a new understanding of scattering at hadron colliders and take LHC physics into a new precision era.

1 764 478 €

Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31

Technology is continuously miniaturizing. As it reaches the nanoscale we face unique challenges, such as managing thermal. From the other direction, advances in the quantum physics of a few atoms, ions, and solid-state qubits mean that we increasingly wish to scale up quantum systems, or interface them with nanoscale devices. Opto- and electro-mechanical (NEMS and MEMS) devices have been controlled at the quantum level in recent years, an amazing advance allowing even entanglement between light and mechanical motion. However, all such systems are plagued by unavoidable environmental contact, and energy dissipation through strain, limiting the potential of mechanical devices to participate in both classical and quantum technologies. By levitating the mechanical element, these problems are overcome. LEVITEQ will, for the first time, cool the motion and rotation of tailor-made silicon particles, enabling full quantum level control. This ultra-low dissipation system offers exquisite force sensitivity, by driving the rotation of a levitated nanorod. LEVITEQ will pioneer the control of nanoparticles by electronic circuits, allowing simple technological integration in a room temperature environment. This all-electrical system will challenge existing quartz crystal oscillator technology. LEVITEQ will explore new regimes of physics, by working in extreme vacuum, elucidating thermodynamics on the nanoscale. This research will pave the way for a levitated quantum object acting as a node in a quantum network, for coherent signal storage and conversion.

1 498 018 €

Start date: 2019-02-01, End date: 2024-01-31

Local adaptation, whereby individuals of a population exhibit higher fitness in their local environment compared to that experienced by other populations, has the potential to shape the distribution of genetic diversity and influence speciation. However, detecting and quantifying the extent of local adaptation is challenging, since neutral demographic processes can leave signatures which are hard to distinguish from those of local selection. In this project, I propose to quantify the extent of local adaptation in Anatomically Modern Humans by using climate-informed spatial genetic models (CISGeM) to reconstruct past population sizes, local movements, and range expansions, and thus provide a null model against which the signature of geographically-localised selection can be detected. In CISGeM, demography is affected by local resource availability, which in turn is defined by paleoclimate and paleovegetation reconstructions. By using these additional lines of evidence, it is possible to generate accurate demographic reconstructions for any number of populations, as well as integrating information from both modern and ancient genomes. Such spatially-explicit reconstructions are key for defining the expected neutral patterns due to complex demography, and thus allow us to isolate the signals of selection from this noisy background with high fidelity. The availability of paleoclimate reconstructions also enables formally testing hypotheses about the drivers of selection, integrating the changes in the strength of selection through space and time. While this project will be focused on Anatomically Modern Humans, the framework that I will develop will be applicable to the investigation of local adaptation from genomic data in any species. Such tools are very timely, given the ever-increasing availability of large genetic datasets thanks to the decreasing cost of genotyping and sequencing in both model and non-model organisms.

1 999 839 €

Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31

Humans, like other extant species, have been successful in the course of evolution because of their ability to adapt to their ever changing environment. Both genetic and non-genetic evidence points to Africa as the main playground of our species for most of its evolutionary history, and suggests that for most of that history our ancestors fitness was linked to survival in low latitude specific environments. Over the past 100,000 years, however, humans dispersed globally, being repeatedly challenged to cope with the diverse range of natural environments and climate of our planet. The economic and cultural shifts from a non-sedentary lifestyle to a food producing and settled way of life in the last 10,000 years have further exposed us to a range of new diets and diseases related to increased population densities. In view of such major changes in the human environment, shifts brought about both by new lands, new socio-economic systems and changing climate, this project asks the question - How adapted to their environment are humans today? In order to answer this question, this project proposes a multidisciplinary approach that combines genetic and non-genetic evidence on human demographic history, phenotypic adaptation and genetic differentiation. The aim of the project is to reveal which parts of our genome have experienced the highest degree of change recently, thus showing us the way to identify those aspects of our biology that have been, or still are, most maladapted to our modern environments. The project will focus on three major aspects of human adaptation climate (cold, sun exposure), nutrition and lifestyle. To explore these, the project will focus on three areas of the world North Asia (Siberia), Southeast Asia and North Africa. For each of these areas, it will compare past and present environments, history of population dispersals, and contrast the patterns of phenotypic and genomic diversity in the populations living there today.

1 499 699 €

Start date: 2011-07-01, End date: 2016-06-30