Objective
With the upcoming Gaia DR4 release (end 2026) and the 2025 ALMA detection of the Keplerian orbit of a close companion around a mass-losing giant star, the time is optimal to resolve a foundational flaw in stellar evolution theory: all modern stellar evolution codes rely on mass-loss prescriptions for evolved stars assuming single-star evolution and spherically symmetric winds. Yet at least 50% of evolved sun-like stars have companions and that fraction approaches 100% for more massive stars. This oversight leads to systematically flawed mass-loss prescriptions, overestimating rates by up to an order of magnitude and even more in some regimes. This has far-reaching consequences for our understanding of astrophysics, from planet formation to the properties of entire galaxies.
SOPHIA will break the 30-year-old impasse by redefining how we quantify stellar winds in low and intermediate-mass stars—the most common stars in the Universe—across both single and binary systems. In contrast to conventional approaches that focus on regularly pulsating giants, SOPHIA takes a transformative route: anchoring its framework in a benchmark sample of semi-regular variables, both single and binary. Through high-resolution observations and advanced 3D radiation-hydro-chemical modelling, SOPHIA will jointly calibrate wind-driving and binary-interaction parameters and construct a stepwise mass-loss ladder across pulsation modes, wind regimes, binary characteristics and evolutionary stages.
This ladder will yield new binary-aware mass-loss prescriptions that will be embedded in secular evolution models and validated against Keplerian orbits from Gaia DR4 epoch astrometry. Together, this will enable a data-driven assessment—and optimal prescription—of mass loss, tidal dissipation, mass transfer, and angular momentum exchange in evolved binaries. Thereby SOPHIA will deliver a new predictive framework for single and binary evolution, transforming how astrophysicists model stellar evolution.
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 stellar astronomy neutron stars
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy planetary sciences planets
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy astrophysics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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
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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
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG
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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.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
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.