ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

In the last decades, significant progress has been made on understanding and controlling solid/liquid electrochemical interfaces at atomic levels. As the principles guiding the activity of electrochemical reactions are quite well established (structure-activity relationships), the fundamentals of stability are still poorly understood (structure-stability relationships). 123STABLE proposes to employ (1) identical location, (2) online monitoring and (3) modeling of noble metals based nanoparticles changes with the state-of-the-art electron microscopy equipment and online dissolution and evolution analytics using electrochemical flow cell coupled to online mass spectrometers. Projects unique methodology approach with picogram sensitivity levels, in combination with sub-atomic scale microscopy insights and simulations, promises novel atomistic insights into the corrosion and reconstruction of noble metals in electrochemical environments. This unique approach is based on observations of the same nanoparticles before and after electrochemical treatment where weak and stable atomic features and events can be recognized, followed, understood and finally utilized. Upon (1) doping, (2) decoration and/or (3) other synthetic modification of nanoparticles like a change in size and shape further stabilization is envisioned. For instance, blockage of nanoparticle vulnerable defected sites like steps or kinks by more noble metal could stop or significantly slow down their degradation. The 123STABLE project will feature platinum- and iridium-based nanostructures as a model system to introduce a unique “123” approach, as they still possess the best electrocatalytic properties for the future electrification of society through the Hydrogen economy. However, their electrochemical stability is still not sufficient. Coupled with the fact that their supply is hindered by extremely scarce, rare and uneven geological distribution, the increase in their stability is of immense importance.

1 496 750 €

Start date: 2020-01-01, End date: 2024-12-31

The idea that underpins this project is to use the material evidence from thousands of surviving 15th-c. books, as well as unique documentary evidence — the unpublished ledger of a Venetian bookseller in the 1480s which records the sale of 25,000 printed books with their prices — to address four fundamental questions relating to the introduction of printing in the West which have so far eluded scholarship, partly because of lack of evidence, partly because of the lack of effective tools to deal with existing evidence. The book trade differs from other trades operating in the medieval and early modern periods in that the goods traded survive in considerable numbers. Not only do they survive, but many of them bear stratified evidence of their history in the form of marks of ownership, prices, manuscript annotations, binding and decoration styles. A British Academy pilot project conceived by the PI produced a now internationally-used database which gathers together this kind of evidence for thousands of surviving 15th-c. printed books. For the first time, this makes it possible to track the circulation of books, their trade routes and later collecting, across Europe and the USA, and throughout the centuries. The objectives of this project are to examine (1) the distribution and trade-routes, national and international, of 15th-c. printed books, along with the identity of the buyers and users (private, institutional, religious, lay, female, male, and by profession) and their reading practices; (2) the books' contemporary market value; (3) the transmission and dissemination of the texts they contain, their survival and their loss (rebalancing potentially skewed scholarship); and (4) the circulation and re-use of the illustrations they contain. Finally, the project will experiment with the application of scientific visualization techniques to represent, geographically and chronologically, the movement of 15th-c. printed books and of the texts they contain.

1 999 172 €

Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31

Correlated electrons are at the forefront of condensed matter theory. Interacting quasi-1D electrons have seen vast progress in analytical and numerical theory, and thus in fundamental understanding and quantitative prediction. Yet, in the 1D limit fluctuations preclude important technological use, particularly of superconductors. In contrast, high-Tc superconductors in 2D/3D are not precluded by fluctuations, but lack a fundamental theory, making prediction and engineering of their properties, a major goal in physics, very difficult. This project aims to combine the advantages of both areas by making major progress in the theory of quasi-1D electrons coupled to an electron bath, in part building on recent breakthroughs (with the PIs extensive involvement) in simulating 1D and 2D electrons with parallelized density matrix renormalization group (pDMRG) numerics. Such theory will fundamentally advance the study of open electron systems, and show how to use 1D materials as elements of new superconducting (SC) devices and materials: 1) It will enable a new state of matter, 1D electrons with true SC order. Fluctuations from the electronic liquid, such as graphene, could also enable nanoscale wires to appear SC at high temperatures. 2) A new approach for the deliberate engineering of a high-Tc superconductor. In 1D, how electrons pair by repulsive interactions is understood and can be predicted. Stabilization by reservoir - formed by a parallel array of many such 1D systems - offers a superconductor for which all factors setting Tc are known and can be optimized. 3) Many existing superconductors with repulsive electron pairing, all presently not understood, can be cast as 1D electrons coupled to a bath. Developing chain-DMFT theory based on pDMRG will allow these materials SC properties to be simulated and understood for the first time. 4) The insights gained will be translated to 2D superconductors to study how they could be enhanced by contact with electronic liquids.

1 491 013 €

Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30

The traditional (Riemann) approach to analytic number theory uses the zeros of zeta functions. This requires the associated multiplicative function, say f(n), to have special enough properties that the associated Dirichlet series may be analytically continued. In this proposal we continue to develop an approach which requires less of the multiplicative function, linking the original question with the mean value of f. Such techniques have been around for a long time but have generally been regarded as “ad hoc”. In this project we aim to show that one can develop a coherent approach to the whole subject, not only reproving all of the old results, but also many new ones that appear inaccessible to traditional methods. Our first goal is to complete a monograph yielding a reworking of all the classical theory using these new methods and then to push forward in new directions. The most important is to extend these techniques to GL(n) L-functions, which we hope will now be feasible having found the correct framework in which to proceed. Since we rarely know how to analytically continue such L-functions this could be of great benefit to the subject. We are developing the large sieve so that it can be used for individual moduli, and will determine a strong form of that. Also a new method to give asymptotics for mean values, when they are not too small. We wish to incorporate techniques of analytic number theory into our theory, for example recent advances on mean values of Dirichlet polynomials. Also the recent breakthroughs on the sieve suggest strong links that need further exploration. Additive combinatorics yields important results in many areas. There are strong analogies between its results, and those for multiplicative functions, especially in large value spectrum theory, and its applications. We hope to develop these further. Much of this is joint work with K Soundararajan of Stanford University.

2 011 742 €

Start date: 2015-08-01, End date: 2020-07-31