HiPERCAM: A high-speed camera for the study of rapid variability in the Universe

Objective

When stars die, they form white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes. These are key objects in astrophysics as their extreme gravities, densities and pressures allow us to test our theories of fundamental physics at the limits of their predictive powers. One of the best ways of studying white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes is via their variations in brightness. Unfortunately, due to the small physical sizes of these objects, they are extremely faint and their variability occurs on timescales of milliseconds to seconds, too fast to be recorded by the current generation of astronomical instruments on the world's largest telescopes.

What is required is a new type of astronomical instrument with the capability to take high-speed exposures with no noise from either the detector or the atmosphere. Such an instrument would enable us to answer some of the most important questions in astrophysics, such as: What are the progenitors of type Ia supernovae? What is the equation of state of the degenerate matter found in white dwarfs and neutron stars? What is the nature of the flow of matter close to the event horizon of black holes? What gravitational wave signals are likely to be detected by the next generation of space and ground-based detectors?

My aim is to answer the above questions by building and exploiting a new astronomical instrument: HiPERCAM. HiPERCAM will be by far the best high-speed camera in the world, giving an order of magnitude improvement in performance over what has come before. It will be mounted on the world's best telescopes, including the 8.2-m VLT in Chile and the 10.4-m GTC on La Palma. This revolutionary new camera will incorporate a novel scintillation-correction mechanism and the latest in low-noise, high-speed detector technology. Although challenging, my track record with previous related instruments (e.g. ULTRACAM) and my preceding technology demonstration projects shows that my proposed research programme is feasible.

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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors optical sensors
• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy observational astronomy gravitational waves
• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy stellar astronomy neutron stars
• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy astrophysics black holes
• natural sciences physical sciences astronomy stellar astronomy supernova

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

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.

• ERC-AG-PE9 - ERC Advanced Grant - Universe sciences

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2013-ADG
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.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (3)