Project description
Discovering pulsars and compact binaries for understanding gravity
Pulsars are a type of star that serve as valuable laboratories in space. By observing pulsars at radio wavelengths, scientists can gain rare insights into the nature of gravity near strongly self-gravitating bodies and the state of matter at supra-nuclear densities. The EU-funded COMPACT project aims to discover some of the most extreme types of pulsar laboratories through petabyte-scale data acquisition and processing. Specifically, the project will search for two specific kinds of pulsars: relativistic binary pulsars with orbital periods of a few minutes to a few hours around other neutron stars, white dwarves, or black holes, and pulsars with rapid spin periods of the order of a millisecond or less.
Objective
The description of gravity by Einstein's theory of general relativity has passed all its experimental tests with flying colours including the recent groundbreaking direct detection of gravitational waves. However, there still remain some glaring shortcomings, ranging from its irreconcilability with quantum mechanics to the dark energy that accelerates the expansion of our Universe. There are also several alternative theories that contend to be the best descriptor of gravity. Hence it is imperative to find new laboratories to test these theories and further our understanding of gravity. This is where pulsars, a special type of star, prove useful. Pulsars are remarkable laboratories in space. Observations of pulsars at radio wavelengths provide rare opportunities to understand how gravity works near strongly self-gravitating bodies, and provide clues on the state of matter at supra-nuclear densities. This provides important complementary knowledge to our understanding of gravity and nuclear physics compared to other experiments such as ground-based gravitational wave detectors. COMPACT is an ambitious project that aims to discover some of the most extreme classes of pulsar laboratories. The project will perform Petabyte-scale data acquisition and processing to search for two specific kinds of pulsars: (i) relativistic binary pulsars with orbital periods of just a few minutes to a few hours around other neutron stars, white dwarves or black holes and (ii) pulsars with extremely fast spin periods of the order of a millisecond or less. Even a single discovery of either class of pulsars has the potential to fundamentally change (or) solidify a huge range of poorly known physics from the internal composition of neutron stars, how they evolve in binaries, to our understanding of the effects of strongly gravitating bodies to the space-time in their vicinity. The survey also has immediate and profound implications for gravitational wave astronomy across multiple wavelengt
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.
- engineering and technology materials engineering colors
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy
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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
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-2022-STG
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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.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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.