Objective
The two main characteristics of Dark Matter are its puzzling ubiquity and its omnipotent evasiveness. To create galaxies, stars and planets, we need Cold Dark Matter to enhance minuscule primordial density fluctuations and provide seeds for the ordinary matter to cluster around. However, in the last 30 years, the colossal international efforts to detect this alien substance have made little progress. Yet there is one strong and imminently testable prediction of the modern Cosmology: in the early Universe, Dark Matter starts collapsing first and ends up arranging itself into a hierarchy of invisible clumps of all sizes. Detecting these dark haloes through their gravitational effects is feasible with existing technology and quantifying their abundance will shed light on the nature of Dark Matter.
The objective of this Proposal is to study the evolution of the stellar phase-space density in the nearby tidal streams to quantify the abundance of the dark matter clumps in the Galactic halo. To probe the granularity of the Milky Way gravitational potential we will discover, measure and identify progenitors of, new Milky Way stellar tidal streams, both using the data from all-sky imaging and spectroscopic surveys and by conducting our own observational campaign. To link the amplitude and the amount of streams' perturbations to the sub- halo mass function, we will develop models of streams’ orbital evolution and will investigate the process of stellar debris scattering with N-body simulations. The ultimate judgement as to the lumpiness of the dark matter locally will come from application of the techniques developed in this project to the revolutionary datasets of Gaia and LSST.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy astrophysics dark matter
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy physical cosmology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2012-StG_20111012
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.