Search

Volatile elements (e.g. H, C, S) have a fundamental role in planetary evolution. But how and when budgets of volatiles were set in planets and the mechanism of volatile depletion in planetary bodies remains poorly understood and represents a fundamental obstacle in understanding the chemical process

The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is finally coming under the scrutiny of our instruments. The EoR is a period in the history of the universe spanning the first billion years (from z=20-30 to z=6). It begins when the light emitted by the first stars born from the gravitational collapse of primordial d

The fast transient Universe has become a major field of study. It contains the most powerful explosive sources that have been discovered, Gamma-Ray Bursts. These ultrarelativistic sources are linked with other phenomena such as core-collapse supernovae or binary neutron star mergers. They are excell

Understand the Milky Way disc formation using combined data from the Gaia satellite and the Gaia-ESO Survey. The following observational diagnostics are analyzed: - Chemical substructure of the disc. - Structural properties. - Chemo-dynamical correlations. - Bulge-disc relation and chemo-dynamica

The main scientific aim of this project is to improve our knowledge, still very scarce, of the role of anions in the interstellar medium through their spectroscopy and their reactivity. The presently proposed combination of careful state-of-the-art experimental, theoretical and observational stud

Beyond the Earth, the Moon is the only planetary body for which we have data constraining our understanding of planetary magnetic field evolution over a long timescale. However, rather than confirming the generic validity of the models developed for the Earth, the Moon challenges our current underst

The aim of this multi-disciplinary project is to unravel the initial stages of metal segregation in planetesimals (tens to hundreds of kilometers) in the infancy of the solar system. To do so, we propose to: - date metal-rich primitive meteorites, quantify the heat sources (26Al, 60Fe) responsible

The idea of our project is motivated by the recent findings showing 1) that the net topographic effect of large earthquakes (magnitude > 7) can be negative, i.e. that the erosion induced by these earthquakes can be greater than the co-seismic uplift; and 2) that surface processes, including erosion

The general objective of our ANR is to follow the galaxy evolution over two billion years after the big-bang and catch massive galaxies when the Universe was only 500 million years old. We produce statistical analysis extracted from the largest samples of massive galaxies at the current frontier in

Mineralogical diversity mirrors physiochemical variations at the Earth surface over geological timescales. Understanding how minerals form and in particular the role played by microorganisms, and attesting of their potential biogenecity requires clues to identify biosignatures recorded within minera

Two groups of chondrites will be used as a common theme in this project. These are thought to represent the two main types of fluid alteration that occurred on asteroidal parent bodies: (i) low temperature hydrothermal alteration (CM group) and (ii) fluid-assisted metamorphism (CV group). Within the

Fundamental constituents of matter and interactions between them are well described by the Standard Model of particle physics. However, some of the most important questions remain unanswered by this theory and a large consensus exists that a new physics beyond the standard model should manifest itse

The overall physics objectives of the EXPAND project are to study of the structure and intrinsic correlations present in light neutron-rich nuclei lying at and beyond the neutron dripline and to search for exotic new phenomena, such as resonance structures in multi-neutron systems (such as the tetra

Very High Energy gamma ray astronomy is a very recent (thirty year old) subfield of astronomy. It aims at mapping and studying the cosmic sources of very high energy photons, thousand billions times more energetic than the visible light. Identifying the sources of high energy photons will give insi

Based on the the postulate that terrestrial life developed through the complexification of physicochemical systems, and on the idea that both physicochemical driving forces and contingency are involved in this process from its very beginning, the PeptiSystems project is mainly aimed at: (i) understa

The formation processes of astrophysical shocks are a field in full development in particular because of the omnipresent character of the shocks in the potential sources of cosmic rays (supernova remnants, winds of massive stars, galactic and extragalactic jets, gamma ray bursts). However because

Giant planets (GP) are major players in the building-up of planetary systems; a good knowledge of the giant planet population is then necessary to get a full understanding of planetary system formation and evolution. Yet, we have only a very partial view of the extrasolar GP populations, because RV/

At present, incorporation and diffusion parameters of nobles gases in mantle silicates are seriously under constrained because a) it is technically challenging to perform experiments with (noble) gases at high temperature and pressure and b) NG behaviour in silicate materials is complex with differ

The recent discovery at the Large Hadron Collider of a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson of the Standard Model is a major milestone for fundamental physics. One of the main priorities for the years to come is to study the exact nature of this new boson and in particular its couplings to S

The discovery of the mass-independent isotopic fractionations of sulfur and oxygen (O-MIF and S-MIF) has revolutionized the way fundamental geochemical questions are answered. If the majority of the O-MIF observed on Earth results from the ozone transfer during oxidation reactions, the processes gen

The major challenge of the project is the production of a dense positronium cloud, which will serve as target for antiprotons. Its density should be high enough to allow two subsequent reactions. The first is between an antiproton and a positronium (positron-electron bound system), which produces ne

Searches for a permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of fundamental particles or systems are actively pursued worldwide [Kir12]. The discovery of a finite value would be of particular interest since it may reveal new sources of CP violation and therefore physics beyond the standard model (SM). The

Ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) play an important role to address key questions of particle physics at the low-energy, high-precision frontier, complementary to experiments done at high-energy particle accelerators. UCN are so slow that they can be trapped in material and magnetic bottles, which makes the