Three FOM talents receive Rubicon
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Rubicon grants to twenty promising researchers. With this funding, NWO gives scientists who have recently gained their PhD the opportunity to acquire research experience at internationally renowned institutes abroad. Three of the twenty laureates are FOM physics talents: dr. Jan Dahlhaus, dr. Tjonnie Li and Milena Lazova, MSc.
Dahlhaus will conduct his research at the University of California Berkeley, for a duration of 12 months. His research focuses on Majorana fermions. Lazova will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 24 months, to study how bacteria double their DNA at the right moment. Li's 24-month research takes place at the LIGO laboratory of the California Institute of Technology. His research aims to study the core of neutron stars with gravitational waves. Brief descriptions of the research projects are given below.
Rubicon
The size of grant depends on the destination chosen and the duration of the stay. One hundred researchers submitted a proposal for Rubicon and twenty of them – thirteen women and seven men – have now received funding.
The name of the grant comes from the river Rubicon. Julius Caesar crossed the river before embarking on the series of victories that led to his famous pronouncement 'veni, vidi, vici'. Rubicon is regarded as a good springboard for a Veni grant from NWO's Talent Scheme.
More information
More information is available on the website of NWO or contact NWO Information and Communication, +31 (0)70 344 07 41.
Enlightened Majorana fermions
Dr. J.P. (Jan) Dahlhaus (m), UL -> University of California Berkeley, Dept. of Physics (US), 12 maanden
Majorana fermions could someday be used to build a quantum computer. To realize them with a topological insulator requires a magnetic excitation gap. The researchers will investigate the creation of such a gap by illumination with light. In this way the use of problematic materials in soon-to-come experiments could be avoided.
Starting at the right moment
M.D. (Milena) Lazova, MSc. (v), VU/FOM-AMOLF –> Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dept. of Biology, (US), 24 maanden
Bacteria double their genetic information (DNA) in order to pass it to their progeny. The researchers will investigate how bacteria start doubling of DNA in the right time: bacteria, which start that process too early or too late cannot survive.
Listening to the cores of colliding neutron stars
Dr. T.G.F. (Tjonnie) Li (m), VU/FOM-Nikhef -> California Institute of Technology, LIGO Laboratory (US), 24 maanden
Neutron stars, the most massive stars in the universe, are ideal laboratories for fundamental physics. Our knowledge of such stars is, however, limited. Researchers propose using gravitational radiation so that the cores of neutron stars can be observed for the first time.