Project description
Shedding new light on early universe physics
Scientists are puzzled about whether our current understanding of the universe accurately explains how its massive structures grow. Current observations reveal inconsistencies with standard models. The ERC-funded CosMicBacklight project will use the Simons Observatory to measure light from the early universe with five times greater precision than current standards. By applying innovative statistical techniques to cosmic microwave background data, it will map structure growth across vast periods of cosmic time. Beyond tracking growth, the project will investigate early-universe physics by analysing ancient light scattering to test theories of cosmic inflation. Ultimately, this work aims to determine the mass of neutrinos and clarify how the first stars formed, providing a definitive test of our cosmological foundations.
Objective
With pioneering measurements of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) gravitational lensing and scattering, this project will address two of the most important questions in cosmology.
Do we understand how cosmic structure grows over time? The growth of large-scale structure with time is one of the most powerful tests of our standard cosmological model and of new physics. Intriguingly, claims of tensions between observations of structure growth and standard model predictions persist. By measuring CMB lensing spectra and cross-correlations with the Simons Observatory (SO) that are five times more precise than the current state-of-the-art, we will place the tightest constraints on structure growth over a wide redshift range. Our ERC-funded innovations, which will enable the use of data that are usually discarded and get more from the data with new statistics, will be crucial for such powerful results. Our work will definitively test whether the standard cosmological model correctly predicts structure growth out to high redshifts z~5.5 and will determine or tightly bound the unknown neutrino mass.
What is the physics of the early universe? Measurements of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial density perturbations are a unique test of whether the very early universe is described by the simplest inflation models or by more complex new physics. By reconstructing the cosmic velocity field using the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) scattering effect in SO data and correlating it with galaxies, my team will obtain powerful constraints on non-Gaussianity (3-5 times tighter than the state-of-the-art) and provide new insights into early-universe physics. With kSZ measurements we will also probe astrophysics at early times: we will provide leading constraints on the duration of reionization by detecting, for the first time, the kSZ four-point function with SO. Our ERC-funded effort will advance kSZ science from first demonstrations to a mature probe of the early universe.
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 theoretical physics particle physics neutrinos
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy astrophysics
- 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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
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.