Eight NWO Open Competition ENW-XL projects with Utrecht Faculty of Science researchers

Number theory studies whole-number solutions to polynomial equations with whole-number coefficients. Geometrically, these solutions correspond to “rational points” on the geometric objects cut out by these equations. The nine projects described in this proposal open up new avenues for the study of rational points, in three different directions: by extending our knowledge about curves to higher-dimensional objects; by comparing the world of rational numbers to that of modular arithmetic; and by interpolating between whole-number and rational solutions. Applying methods from both algebra and geometry, both qualitative and quantitative results will be obtained, with both theoretical implications and real-world applications.

In 2023 the European Space Agency will launch the Euclid satellite on a six-year mission to map out the evolution of the Universe over the past 8 billion years. This map will contain about 2 billion galaxies. The ‘Dark Universe Science Collaboration’ will analyse these data with tools such as gravitational lensing, statistical models for the clustering of galaxies, and supercomputer simulations incorporating complex feedback processes due to supermassive black holes and star formation, to study how the mysterious components of the Universe – dark matter and dark energy – behave and how they influence the evolution of galaxies and the Universe.

A functional immune defense against cancer depends, among other things, on specific contacts between T cells and tumor cells. Together, these two cell types form a dynamic framework that shapes the immune response. Disruptions in T-cell:tumor-cell interactions contribute to tumor cells escaping the immune system, resulting in cancer. On the other hand, there are a number of medicines that actually intervene with these interactions, with promising results for cancer patients. Because of this encouraging development, we will use advanced techniques in this project to gain a better understanding of such interactions between T cells and tumor cells, with the aim of discovering new targets for immunotherapy.

Recently discovered, atomically-thin magnetic crystals are creating world-wide excitement in physics. Their magnetism is well controllable, offering opportunities for realizing information technology on the smallest scale. This project aims at creating, controlling, and detecting a gas-like state of magnetic waves in these materials, and thereby realize the first two-dimensional magnetic-wave transistor.

Many (older) women suffer from urinary tract infections. Urinary tract infections have long been studied from the perspective of particular pathogens causing disease. Recent research shows that these pathogens are not the only microbes in the urinary tract, that other pathogens can be involved in the disease, ánd that microbes also live in the urinary tract of healthy women. We investigate how eco-evolutionary interactions between these microbes lead to the emergence of urinary tract infections. Knowledge of these interactions can potentially lead to new treatment methods in the future.

The strong nuclear force explains how quarks bind together into protons and neutrons, which in turn form atomic nuclei. Though the basic principles are well understood, it is often difficult to perform calculations, especially in situations involving large numbers of quarks, like inside neutron stars. In this project, theoretical and experimental particle physicists, nuclear physicists, astrophysicists, and astronomers join forces to look at the consequences of the strong nuclear force from different perspectives – using theoretical models, particle accelerators, gravitational wave detectors, and telescopes – and to understand this interaction over a wide range of temperatures and densities.

The answers to fundamental open questions about our Universe may lie in rare and exotic processes that can be studies with an enormous amount of particle collisions of the LHC. The success of the study of the fragments produced in the collisions depends on particle detectors and the reconstruction algorithms needed to unravel them. With a tenfold increase in collision rate within the next ten years at the Large Hadron Collider, our current measurement and computing infrastructure will need a new approach. The FASTER consortium will develop new detector technologies and computing algorithms that exploit the fourth dimension with ultra-precise picosecond-timing information.