Project acronym AQUAMS
Project Analysis of quantum many-body systems
Researcher (PI) Robert Seiringer
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYAUSTRIA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary The main focus of this project is the mathematical analysis of many-body quantum systems, in particular, interacting quantum gases at low temperature. The recent experimental advances in studying ultra-cold atomic gases have led to renewed interest in these systems. They display a rich variety of quantum phenomena, including, e.g., Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity, which makes them interesting both from a physical and a mathematical point of view.
The goal of this project is the development of new mathematical tools for dealing with complex problems in many-body quantum systems. New mathematical methods lead to different points of view and thus increase our understanding of physical systems. From the point of view of mathematical physics, there has been significant progress in the last few years in understanding the interesting phenomena occurring in quantum gases, and the goal of this project is to investigate some of the key issues that remain unsolved. Due to the complex nature of the problems, new mathematical ideas
and methods will have to be developed for this purpose. One of the main question addressed in this proposal is the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation for the excitation spectrum of many-body quantum systems. While its accuracy has been
successfully shown for the ground state energy of various models, its predictions concerning the excitation spectrum have so far only been verified in the Hartree limit, an extreme form of a mean-field limit where the interaction among the particles is very weak and ranges over the whole system. The central part of this project is concerned with the extension of these results to the case of short-range interactions. Apart from being mathematically much more challenging, the short-range case is the
one most relevant for the description of actual physical systems. Hence progress along these lines can be expected to yield valuable insight into the complex behavior of these many-body quantum systems.
Summary
The main focus of this project is the mathematical analysis of many-body quantum systems, in particular, interacting quantum gases at low temperature. The recent experimental advances in studying ultra-cold atomic gases have led to renewed interest in these systems. They display a rich variety of quantum phenomena, including, e.g., Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity, which makes them interesting both from a physical and a mathematical point of view.
The goal of this project is the development of new mathematical tools for dealing with complex problems in many-body quantum systems. New mathematical methods lead to different points of view and thus increase our understanding of physical systems. From the point of view of mathematical physics, there has been significant progress in the last few years in understanding the interesting phenomena occurring in quantum gases, and the goal of this project is to investigate some of the key issues that remain unsolved. Due to the complex nature of the problems, new mathematical ideas
and methods will have to be developed for this purpose. One of the main question addressed in this proposal is the validity of the Bogoliubov approximation for the excitation spectrum of many-body quantum systems. While its accuracy has been
successfully shown for the ground state energy of various models, its predictions concerning the excitation spectrum have so far only been verified in the Hartree limit, an extreme form of a mean-field limit where the interaction among the particles is very weak and ranges over the whole system. The central part of this project is concerned with the extension of these results to the case of short-range interactions. Apart from being mathematically much more challenging, the short-range case is the
one most relevant for the description of actual physical systems. Hence progress along these lines can be expected to yield valuable insight into the complex behavior of these many-body quantum systems.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 755 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym BILITERACY
Project Bi-literacy: Learning to read in L1 and in L2
Researcher (PI) Manuel Francisco Carreiras Valiña
Host Institution (HI) BCBL BASQUE CENTER ON COGNITION BRAIN AND LANGUAGE
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2011-ADG_20110406
Summary Learning to read is probably one of the most exciting discoveries in our life. Using a longitudinal approach, the research proposed examines how the human brain responds to two major challenges: (a) the instantiation a complex cognitive function for which there is no genetic blueprint (learning to read in a first language, L1), and (b) the accommodation to new statistical regularities when learning to read in a second language (L2). The aim of the present research project is to identify the neural substrates of the reading process and its constituent cognitive components, with specific attention to individual differences and reading disabilities; as well as to investigate the relationship between specific cognitive functions and the changes in neural activity that take place in the course of learning to read in L1 and in L2. The project will employ a longitudinal design. We will recruit children before they learn to read in L1 and in L2 and track reading development with both cognitive and neuroimaging measures over 24 months. The findings from this project will provide a deeper understanding of (a) how general neurocognitive factors and language specific factors underlie individual differences – and reading disabilities– in reading acquisition in L1 and in L2; (b) how the neuro-cognitive circuitry changes and brain mechanisms synchronize while instantiating reading in L1 and in L2; (c) what the limitations and the extent of brain plasticity are in young readers. An interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach is one of the keys to success of the present project, along with strong theory-driven investigation. By combining both we will generate breakthroughs to advance our understanding of how literacy in L1 and in L2 is acquired and mastered. The research proposed will also lay the foundations for more applied investigations of best practice in teaching reading in first and subsequent languages, and devising intervention methods for reading disabilities.
Summary
Learning to read is probably one of the most exciting discoveries in our life. Using a longitudinal approach, the research proposed examines how the human brain responds to two major challenges: (a) the instantiation a complex cognitive function for which there is no genetic blueprint (learning to read in a first language, L1), and (b) the accommodation to new statistical regularities when learning to read in a second language (L2). The aim of the present research project is to identify the neural substrates of the reading process and its constituent cognitive components, with specific attention to individual differences and reading disabilities; as well as to investigate the relationship between specific cognitive functions and the changes in neural activity that take place in the course of learning to read in L1 and in L2. The project will employ a longitudinal design. We will recruit children before they learn to read in L1 and in L2 and track reading development with both cognitive and neuroimaging measures over 24 months. The findings from this project will provide a deeper understanding of (a) how general neurocognitive factors and language specific factors underlie individual differences – and reading disabilities– in reading acquisition in L1 and in L2; (b) how the neuro-cognitive circuitry changes and brain mechanisms synchronize while instantiating reading in L1 and in L2; (c) what the limitations and the extent of brain plasticity are in young readers. An interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approach is one of the keys to success of the present project, along with strong theory-driven investigation. By combining both we will generate breakthroughs to advance our understanding of how literacy in L1 and in L2 is acquired and mastered. The research proposed will also lay the foundations for more applied investigations of best practice in teaching reading in first and subsequent languages, and devising intervention methods for reading disabilities.
Max ERC Funding
2 487 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-05-01, End date: 2017-04-30
Project acronym BSD
Project Euler systems and the conjectures of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer, Bloch and Kato
Researcher (PI) Victor Rotger cerdà
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE1, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary In order to celebrate mathematics in the new millennium, the Clay Mathematics Institute established seven $1.000.000 Prize Problems. One of these is the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD), widely open since the 1960's. The main object of this proposal is developing innovative and unconventional strategies for proving groundbreaking results towards the resolution of this problem and their generalizations by Bloch and Kato (BK).
Breakthroughs on BSD were achieved by Coates-Wiles, Gross, Zagier and Kolyvagin, and Kato. Since then, there have been nearly no new ideas on how to tackle BSD. Only very recently, three independent revolutionary approaches have seen the light: the works of (1) the Fields medalist Bhargava, (2) Skinner and Urban, and (3) myself and my collaborators. In spite of that, our knowledge of BSD is rather poor. In my proposal I suggest innovating strategies for approaching new horizons in BSD and BK that I aim to develop with the team of PhD and postdoctoral researchers that the CoG may allow me to consolidate. The results I plan to prove represent a departure from the achievements obtained with my coauthors during the past years:
I. BSD over totally real number fields. I plan to prove new ground-breaking instances of BSD in rank 0 for elliptic curves over totally real number fields, generalizing the theorem of Kato (by providing a new proof) and covering many new scenarios that have never been considered before.
II. BSD in rank r=2. Most of the literature on BSD applies when r=0 or 1. I expect to prove p-adic versions of the theorems of Gross-Zagier and Kolyvagin in rank 2.
III. Darmon's 2000 conjecture on Stark-Heegner points. I plan to prove Darmon’s striking conjecture announced at the ICM2000 by recasting it in terms of special values of p-adic L-functions.
Summary
In order to celebrate mathematics in the new millennium, the Clay Mathematics Institute established seven $1.000.000 Prize Problems. One of these is the conjecture of Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD), widely open since the 1960's. The main object of this proposal is developing innovative and unconventional strategies for proving groundbreaking results towards the resolution of this problem and their generalizations by Bloch and Kato (BK).
Breakthroughs on BSD were achieved by Coates-Wiles, Gross, Zagier and Kolyvagin, and Kato. Since then, there have been nearly no new ideas on how to tackle BSD. Only very recently, three independent revolutionary approaches have seen the light: the works of (1) the Fields medalist Bhargava, (2) Skinner and Urban, and (3) myself and my collaborators. In spite of that, our knowledge of BSD is rather poor. In my proposal I suggest innovating strategies for approaching new horizons in BSD and BK that I aim to develop with the team of PhD and postdoctoral researchers that the CoG may allow me to consolidate. The results I plan to prove represent a departure from the achievements obtained with my coauthors during the past years:
I. BSD over totally real number fields. I plan to prove new ground-breaking instances of BSD in rank 0 for elliptic curves over totally real number fields, generalizing the theorem of Kato (by providing a new proof) and covering many new scenarios that have never been considered before.
II. BSD in rank r=2. Most of the literature on BSD applies when r=0 or 1. I expect to prove p-adic versions of the theorems of Gross-Zagier and Kolyvagin in rank 2.
III. Darmon's 2000 conjecture on Stark-Heegner points. I plan to prove Darmon’s striking conjecture announced at the ICM2000 by recasting it in terms of special values of p-adic L-functions.
Max ERC Funding
1 428 588 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-09-01, End date: 2021-08-31
Project acronym DYCON
Project Dynamic Control and Numerics of Partial Differential Equations
Researcher (PI) Enrique Zuazua
Host Institution (HI) FUNDACION DEUSTO
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), PE1, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary This project aims at making a breakthrough contribution in the broad area of Control of Partial Differential Equations (PDE) and their numerical approximation methods by addressing key unsolved issues appearing systematically in real-life applications.
To this end, we pursue three objectives: 1) to contribute with new key theoretical methods and results, 2) to develop the corresponding numerical tools, and 3) to build up new computational software, the DYCON-COMP computational platform, thereby bridging the gap to applications.
The field of PDEs, together with numerical approximation and simulation methods and control theory, have evolved significantly in the last decades in a cross-fertilization process, to address the challenging demands of industrial and cross-disciplinary applications such as, for instance, the management of natural resources, meteorology, aeronautics, oil industry, biomedicine, human and animal collective behaviour, etc. Despite these efforts, some of the key issues still remain unsolved, either because of a lack of analytical understanding, of the absence of efficient numerical solvers, or of a combination of both.
This project identifies and focuses on six key topics that play a central role in most of the processes arising in applications, but which are still poorly understood: control of parameter dependent problems; long time horizon control; control under constraints; inverse design of time-irreversible models; memory models and hybrid PDE/ODE models, and finite versus infinite-dimensional dynamical systems.
These topics cannot be handled by superposing the state of the art in the various disciplines, due to the unexpected interactive phenomena that may emerge, for instance, in the fine numerical approximation of control problems. The coordinated and focused effort that we aim at developing is timely and much needed in order to solve these issues and bridge the gap from modelling to control, computer simulations and applications.
Summary
This project aims at making a breakthrough contribution in the broad area of Control of Partial Differential Equations (PDE) and their numerical approximation methods by addressing key unsolved issues appearing systematically in real-life applications.
To this end, we pursue three objectives: 1) to contribute with new key theoretical methods and results, 2) to develop the corresponding numerical tools, and 3) to build up new computational software, the DYCON-COMP computational platform, thereby bridging the gap to applications.
The field of PDEs, together with numerical approximation and simulation methods and control theory, have evolved significantly in the last decades in a cross-fertilization process, to address the challenging demands of industrial and cross-disciplinary applications such as, for instance, the management of natural resources, meteorology, aeronautics, oil industry, biomedicine, human and animal collective behaviour, etc. Despite these efforts, some of the key issues still remain unsolved, either because of a lack of analytical understanding, of the absence of efficient numerical solvers, or of a combination of both.
This project identifies and focuses on six key topics that play a central role in most of the processes arising in applications, but which are still poorly understood: control of parameter dependent problems; long time horizon control; control under constraints; inverse design of time-irreversible models; memory models and hybrid PDE/ODE models, and finite versus infinite-dimensional dynamical systems.
These topics cannot be handled by superposing the state of the art in the various disciplines, due to the unexpected interactive phenomena that may emerge, for instance, in the fine numerical approximation of control problems. The coordinated and focused effort that we aim at developing is timely and much needed in order to solve these issues and bridge the gap from modelling to control, computer simulations and applications.
Max ERC Funding
2 065 125 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym DYSTRUCTURE
Project The Dynamical and Structural Basis of Human Mind Complexity: Segregation and Integration of Information and Processing in the Brain
Researcher (PI) Gustavo Deco
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2011-ADG_20110406
Summary "Perceptions, memories, emotions, and everything that makes us human, demand the flexible integration of information represented and computed in a distributed manner. The human brain is structured into a large number of areas in which information and computation are highly segregated. Normal brain functions require the integration of functionally specialized but widely distributed brain areas. Furthermore, human behavior entails a flexible task- dependent interplay between different subsets of these brain areas in order to integrate them according to the corresponding goal-directed requirements. We contend that the functional and encoding roles of diverse neuronal populations across areas are subject to intra- and inter-cortical dynamics. More concretely, we hypothesize that coherent oscillations within frequency-specific large-scale networks and coherent structuring of the underlying fluctuations are crucial mechanisms for the flexible integration of distributed processing and interaction of representations.
The project aims to elucidate precisely the interplay and mutual entrainment between local brain area dynamics and global network dynamics and their breakdown in brain diseases. We wish to better understand how segregated distributed information and processing are integrated in a flexible and context-dependent way as required for goal-directed behavior. It will allow us to comprehend the mechanisms underlying brain functions by complementing structural and activation based analyses with dynamics. We expect to gain a full explanation of the mechanisms that mediate the interactions between global and local spatio-temporal patterns of activity revealed at many levels of observations (fMRI, EEG, MEG) in humans under task and resting conditions, complemented and further constrained by using more detailed characterization of brain dynamics via Local Field Potentials and neuronal recording in animals under task and resting conditions."
Summary
"Perceptions, memories, emotions, and everything that makes us human, demand the flexible integration of information represented and computed in a distributed manner. The human brain is structured into a large number of areas in which information and computation are highly segregated. Normal brain functions require the integration of functionally specialized but widely distributed brain areas. Furthermore, human behavior entails a flexible task- dependent interplay between different subsets of these brain areas in order to integrate them according to the corresponding goal-directed requirements. We contend that the functional and encoding roles of diverse neuronal populations across areas are subject to intra- and inter-cortical dynamics. More concretely, we hypothesize that coherent oscillations within frequency-specific large-scale networks and coherent structuring of the underlying fluctuations are crucial mechanisms for the flexible integration of distributed processing and interaction of representations.
The project aims to elucidate precisely the interplay and mutual entrainment between local brain area dynamics and global network dynamics and their breakdown in brain diseases. We wish to better understand how segregated distributed information and processing are integrated in a flexible and context-dependent way as required for goal-directed behavior. It will allow us to comprehend the mechanisms underlying brain functions by complementing structural and activation based analyses with dynamics. We expect to gain a full explanation of the mechanisms that mediate the interactions between global and local spatio-temporal patterns of activity revealed at many levels of observations (fMRI, EEG, MEG) in humans under task and resting conditions, complemented and further constrained by using more detailed characterization of brain dynamics via Local Field Potentials and neuronal recording in animals under task and resting conditions."
Max ERC Funding
2 467 530 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-07-01, End date: 2017-06-30
Project acronym GECEM
Project Global Encounters between China and Europe: Trade Networks, Consumption and Cultural Exchanges in Macau and Marseille (1680-1840)
Researcher (PI) Manuel Perez Garcia
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSIDAD PABLO DE OLAVIDE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2015-STG
Summary In the last decade the approaches of the global history have been emphasized in order to visualize the progress, form and method which historians have undertaken when carrying out ambitious research projects to analyse and compare diverse geographical and cultural areas of Asia and Europe. But when dealing with comparisons and cross-cultural studies in Europe and Asia, some scholarly works have exceeded of ambiguities when defining geographical units as well as chronology. In this project I examine perceptions and dialogues between China and Europe by analysing strategic geopolitical sites which fostered commerce, consumption and socioeconomic networks between China and Europe through a particular case study: Macau, connecting with South China, and Marseille in Mediterranean Europe.
How did foreign merchant networks and trans-national communities of Macau and Marseille operate during the eighteenth century and contribute to somehow transfer respectively European and Chinese socio-cultural habits and forms in local population? What was the degree and channels of consumption of European goods in China and Chinese goods in Europe? These are the main questions to answer during my research to explore the bilateral Sino-European trade relations and how the trans-national dimension of exotic commodities changed tastes by creating a new type of global consumerism.
Such concrete comparison can help to narrow the gap that some researchers have created when widely analysing differences between Asia and Europe without a specific geographical and chronological delineation. The major novelty of this project is based on the use of Chinese and European sources to study changes in consumer behaviour. The principal investigator of the project works in China which is and added value for the achievement of outstanding results. So the expected results will bring an obvious breakthrough by adding the specific part of the project in which each team member will work.
Summary
In the last decade the approaches of the global history have been emphasized in order to visualize the progress, form and method which historians have undertaken when carrying out ambitious research projects to analyse and compare diverse geographical and cultural areas of Asia and Europe. But when dealing with comparisons and cross-cultural studies in Europe and Asia, some scholarly works have exceeded of ambiguities when defining geographical units as well as chronology. In this project I examine perceptions and dialogues between China and Europe by analysing strategic geopolitical sites which fostered commerce, consumption and socioeconomic networks between China and Europe through a particular case study: Macau, connecting with South China, and Marseille in Mediterranean Europe.
How did foreign merchant networks and trans-national communities of Macau and Marseille operate during the eighteenth century and contribute to somehow transfer respectively European and Chinese socio-cultural habits and forms in local population? What was the degree and channels of consumption of European goods in China and Chinese goods in Europe? These are the main questions to answer during my research to explore the bilateral Sino-European trade relations and how the trans-national dimension of exotic commodities changed tastes by creating a new type of global consumerism.
Such concrete comparison can help to narrow the gap that some researchers have created when widely analysing differences between Asia and Europe without a specific geographical and chronological delineation. The major novelty of this project is based on the use of Chinese and European sources to study changes in consumer behaviour. The principal investigator of the project works in China which is and added value for the achievement of outstanding results. So the expected results will bring an obvious breakthrough by adding the specific part of the project in which each team member will work.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 625 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-07-01, End date: 2021-06-30
Project acronym PALEODEM
Project Late Glacial and Postglacial Population History and Cultural Transmission in Iberia (c.15,000-8,000 cal BP)
Researcher (PI) Javier Fernández-lópez de pablo
Host Institution (HI) FUNDACIO PRIVADA INSTITUT CATALA DE PALEOECOLOGIA HUMANA I EVOLUCIO SOCIAL
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH6, ERC-2015-CoG
Summary The aim of this project is to investigate patterns of population history and cultural transmission from the Late Magdalenian to the Late Mesolithic (c.15,000-8,000 cal BP) in South-western Europe. This period witnessed major environmental changes and cultural transformations on settlement distribution, technology and social organisation. Our project specifically addresses two major inter-related research topics: Firstly, to what extent demographic behaviour was driven by environmental factors; and secondly, how did regional population patterns influence cultural transmission processes.
This project develops a new, multi-scale, methodological approach to study population patterns and cultural change between the Late Magdalenian and the Late Mesolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. First, at a local scale, our project will combine new empirical data obtained at open-air residential sites with well dated multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental reconstructions to understand the impact of climate change and hydrological stress on human settlement areas. Then, we will reconstruct population patterns at 4 different Iberian regional units analysing summed probabilities of radiocarbon date distributions from a new audited radiocarbon database. Finally, we will conduct computational network analysis at a macro-regional scale to identify how diachronic variations on hunter-gatherer settlement networks affected the transmission of cultural traits and the spread of technological innovations.
With this multi-step interdisciplinary approach, we aim to provide a chronological-secure framework and spatially explicit context for the interpretation of population history, cultural change, and resilience to environmental changes through from the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene transition to the Middle Holocene in Iberia.
Summary
The aim of this project is to investigate patterns of population history and cultural transmission from the Late Magdalenian to the Late Mesolithic (c.15,000-8,000 cal BP) in South-western Europe. This period witnessed major environmental changes and cultural transformations on settlement distribution, technology and social organisation. Our project specifically addresses two major inter-related research topics: Firstly, to what extent demographic behaviour was driven by environmental factors; and secondly, how did regional population patterns influence cultural transmission processes.
This project develops a new, multi-scale, methodological approach to study population patterns and cultural change between the Late Magdalenian and the Late Mesolithic in the Iberian Peninsula. First, at a local scale, our project will combine new empirical data obtained at open-air residential sites with well dated multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental reconstructions to understand the impact of climate change and hydrological stress on human settlement areas. Then, we will reconstruct population patterns at 4 different Iberian regional units analysing summed probabilities of radiocarbon date distributions from a new audited radiocarbon database. Finally, we will conduct computational network analysis at a macro-regional scale to identify how diachronic variations on hunter-gatherer settlement networks affected the transmission of cultural traits and the spread of technological innovations.
With this multi-step interdisciplinary approach, we aim to provide a chronological-secure framework and spatially explicit context for the interpretation of population history, cultural change, and resilience to environmental changes through from the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene transition to the Middle Holocene in Iberia.
Max ERC Funding
1 460 385 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-10-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym PETRIFYING WEALTH
Project Petrifying Wealth. The Southern European Shift to Masonry as Collective Investment in Identity, c.1050-1300
Researcher (PI) Ana María RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ
Host Institution (HI) AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DEINVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2015-AdG
Summary Between the years 1050 and 1300 the European landscape turned to stone. It was a structural transformation that led to the birth of a new, long-lasting panorama and helped in the creation of individual, collective and regional identities: a landscape epitomising the way we see the space and territory of Europe. Petrifying Wealth seeks to rewrite the social history of the central Middle Ages, emphasizing the need to reassess from an untried perspective an element that has always been present in our vision of the period—the sudden ubiquity of masonry construction—but which has hardly been given the opportunity to provide in-depth explanations for complex social dynamics. This project seeks to offer novel explanations to previously unasked questions about wealth, building, and collective identity.
The speed, extent, and systematization of the construction of churches, towers, castle walls, palaces, and houses within castles and cities provide evidence of an underlying, if unaddressed, issue. That is, it is precisely in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the structural link can most clearly be seen between both private and collective wealth, and the investment in stone structures built to last. Our study of the shift involving new institutional dynamics, but also unprecedented social practices, as well as ideological concepts radically different from those that had prevailed until then, aims to break down assumptions that have naturalized this truly astonishing process while using as case studies the undervalued regions of southern Europe to explore the larger questions. By inverting the standard approach that sees the heart of the former Carolingian empire (present-day France and Germany) as the wellspring from which other “peripheral” territories drank, we bring new light to probe the greater meaning behind the process of masonry building as an investment in social identity in the central Middle Ages.
Summary
Between the years 1050 and 1300 the European landscape turned to stone. It was a structural transformation that led to the birth of a new, long-lasting panorama and helped in the creation of individual, collective and regional identities: a landscape epitomising the way we see the space and territory of Europe. Petrifying Wealth seeks to rewrite the social history of the central Middle Ages, emphasizing the need to reassess from an untried perspective an element that has always been present in our vision of the period—the sudden ubiquity of masonry construction—but which has hardly been given the opportunity to provide in-depth explanations for complex social dynamics. This project seeks to offer novel explanations to previously unasked questions about wealth, building, and collective identity.
The speed, extent, and systematization of the construction of churches, towers, castle walls, palaces, and houses within castles and cities provide evidence of an underlying, if unaddressed, issue. That is, it is precisely in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the structural link can most clearly be seen between both private and collective wealth, and the investment in stone structures built to last. Our study of the shift involving new institutional dynamics, but also unprecedented social practices, as well as ideological concepts radically different from those that had prevailed until then, aims to break down assumptions that have naturalized this truly astonishing process while using as case studies the undervalued regions of southern Europe to explore the larger questions. By inverting the standard approach that sees the heart of the former Carolingian empire (present-day France and Germany) as the wellspring from which other “peripheral” territories drank, we bring new light to probe the greater meaning behind the process of masonry building as an investment in social identity in the central Middle Ages.
Max ERC Funding
2 491 799 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-01-01, End date: 2021-12-31
Project acronym RESTRICTION
Project Restriction of the Fourier transform with applications to the Schrödinger and wave equations
Researcher (PI) Keith Mckenzie Rogers
Host Institution (HI) AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DEINVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE1, ERC-2011-StG_20101014
Summary In 1967, Stein proved that the Fourier transform of functions in L^p could be meaningfully restricted to the sphere for certain p>1. The restriction conjecture, which asserts the maximal range of such p, was solved by Fefferman in two dimensions, but the conjecture remains open in higher dimensions. Strichartz considered the same question but with the sphere replaced by the paraboloid or the cone, and a great deal of progress has been made in the last two decades by Bourgain, Wolff and Tao, among others. Due to the fact that the adjoint operators of the restriction operators to the paraboloid and cone correspond to the Schrödinger and wave evolution operators, respectively, this work has been hugely influential. The main goal of this proposal is to improve the state of the art for the mixed norm analogues of these conjectures.
Summary
In 1967, Stein proved that the Fourier transform of functions in L^p could be meaningfully restricted to the sphere for certain p>1. The restriction conjecture, which asserts the maximal range of such p, was solved by Fefferman in two dimensions, but the conjecture remains open in higher dimensions. Strichartz considered the same question but with the sphere replaced by the paraboloid or the cone, and a great deal of progress has been made in the last two decades by Bourgain, Wolff and Tao, among others. Due to the fact that the adjoint operators of the restriction operators to the paraboloid and cone correspond to the Schrödinger and wave evolution operators, respectively, this work has been hugely influential. The main goal of this proposal is to improve the state of the art for the mixed norm analogues of these conjectures.
Max ERC Funding
950 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31
Project acronym VAMOS
Project The value of mothers to society: responses to motherhood and child rearing practices in prehistoric Europe
Researcher (PI) Katharina Rebay-Salisbury
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2015-STG
Summary Analysing the link between reproduction and women’s social status, this project explores social responses to pregnancy, birth and childrearing from the late Neolithic to the late Iron Age (c.3000-15 BC) through case studies in central Europe. Motherhood and childrearing, often seen as natural, mundane and inevitable parts of women’s lives, are also cultural and historically contingent practices that build the foundations of societies. Exploring the value of mothers to society will aid in understanding important long-term developments such as social stratification, increasing population density and the entrenching of gender roles during the three millennia under investigation.
Bringing together the latest developments in archaeological science, including palaeo-pathology, ancient DNA and isotope analyses, with innovative interpretative approaches, this project will explore if all women were expected to become mothers, highlight alternative lifeways, evaluate risks and consequences of becoming a mother and analyse the social value of reproductive success.
It is the first study that aims to systematically predict the probability of whether or not a woman has given birth using palaeo-pathological markers combined with individual age information and population-specific demographic data. It will contextualize the findings with an in-depth status analysis of women’s graves. Graves of pregnant women, double burials of women and children as well as infant burials will provide further data. The study extends to childrearing (care, feeding, but also abuse, neglect and infanticide) and explores how children were treated after death for insights into their significance.
Current political discourses about mothers in society and workforce frequently refer to ‘natural’ and ‘ancient’ childrearing practices. This project will contribute significantly to our understanding of motherhood and counter naive narratives of childrearing in prehistory with science-based information.
Summary
Analysing the link between reproduction and women’s social status, this project explores social responses to pregnancy, birth and childrearing from the late Neolithic to the late Iron Age (c.3000-15 BC) through case studies in central Europe. Motherhood and childrearing, often seen as natural, mundane and inevitable parts of women’s lives, are also cultural and historically contingent practices that build the foundations of societies. Exploring the value of mothers to society will aid in understanding important long-term developments such as social stratification, increasing population density and the entrenching of gender roles during the three millennia under investigation.
Bringing together the latest developments in archaeological science, including palaeo-pathology, ancient DNA and isotope analyses, with innovative interpretative approaches, this project will explore if all women were expected to become mothers, highlight alternative lifeways, evaluate risks and consequences of becoming a mother and analyse the social value of reproductive success.
It is the first study that aims to systematically predict the probability of whether or not a woman has given birth using palaeo-pathological markers combined with individual age information and population-specific demographic data. It will contextualize the findings with an in-depth status analysis of women’s graves. Graves of pregnant women, double burials of women and children as well as infant burials will provide further data. The study extends to childrearing (care, feeding, but also abuse, neglect and infanticide) and explores how children were treated after death for insights into their significance.
Current political discourses about mothers in society and workforce frequently refer to ‘natural’ and ‘ancient’ childrearing practices. This project will contribute significantly to our understanding of motherhood and counter naive narratives of childrearing in prehistory with science-based information.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 680 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-07-01, End date: 2021-06-30
