Space missions increasingly require autonomous and efficient on-board data processing to overcome challenges such as limited communication bandwidth, high latency, and the need for real-time decision-making. While traditional artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms have demonstrated remarkable performance in these tasks, their… Read more high power consumption and computational demands make them less suitable for resource-constrained environments like space [6]. This proposal aims to advance satellite edge computing by developing a neuromorphic processing module that interfaces a RISC-V core with Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs). Inspired by the human brain's efficiency and adaptability, SNNs process information through intermittent spikes, activating neurons only when inputs exceed a threshold. This event-driven approach drastically reduces power consumption, specifically for continuous data streams, while maintaining high computational efficiency, making SNNs suitable for space applications [1][6]. Unlike conventional deep learning models, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), SNNs encode information in a time-dependent manner, enhancing robustness against radiation-induced errors—a critical requirement for space systems [2]. This activity will focus on adapting an existing RISC-V core to interface with a custom-designed SNN. Thanks to the high degree of customization offered by the RISC-V architecture and its open-source nature, I aim to develop an integrated module that combines a traditional processor with an SNN-based accelerator. To enable efficient control and communication between the processor and the SNN, the project will also explore the development of custom instructions for specific SNN tasks. The module will be validated through a practical use case to assess its performance in terms of computational efficiency and radiation resistance, ensuring its suitability for deployment in the challenging conditions of space.

The Moore4Power project pioneers the extension of the "More-than-Moore" approach, traditionally applied to microelectronics, into the domain of Power Electronics (PE) Applications. This revolutionary methodology shifts away from incremental improvements, to deliver disruptive innovations by integrating heterogeneous technologies, materials, and… Read more functionalities. Through the modularization of PE systems into Building Blocks (BBs), the project fosters co-design between hardware and software, enabling unparalleled performance, accelerated development cycles, and unprecedented energy efficiency. This approach focuses on implementing "the right technology and functionality in the right place," ensuring systems that combine optimal performance at best cost, while supporting Europe’s Clean Industry agenda and digital transformation. The project integrates advanced semiconductor materials like Si, GaN, and SiC, as well as Power Chiplets that combine sensors, control, and switching functionalities. It unites AI-powered simulations and modeling for faster R&D cycles, and ensures sustainability through eco-design principles, circular economy strategies, and lifetime prediction tools. Secureby-design and trust-by-design methodologies safeguard systems from increasing cybersecurity threats, ensuring compliance with EU regulations and resilience in critical sectors. With over 60 partners, including large industrial players, SMEs, and research institutes from 15 European countries, the project represents a broad and diverse coalition of expertise. This uniquely European approach not only strengthens industrial competitiveness and positions Europe as a global leader in next-generation PE systems but also addresses the urgent need for technological sovereignty in the face of an insecure political and economic landscape. Moore4Power will ensure Europe’s resilience and readiness to secure its strategic industries and critical infrastructure.

Over the past decade, there has been a momentous shift in the ability of researchers to utilize quantum-enhanced techniques to probe natural phenomena. The rise in the use of these highly sensitive techniques stems from various reasons, e.g., easier access to the… Read more cryogenic environments needed to use quantum materials and improved fabrication methods to design and create new quantum “bits.” Almost simultaneously, there has also been an exponential rise in the development and use of machine-learning techniques to aid in identifying targeted topologies arising from rare phenomena. Less common but equally compelling is the combination of these two techniques, whereby one enhances the sensitivity of quantum sensors through on-chip implementation of AI-based algorithms. We propose developing and testing machine-learning techniques for superconducting quantum bits (qubits) to search for particles interacting with these highly sensitive devices. We foresee two significant applications for this research. First, AI-enhanced quantum sensors could be used to search for exotic types of dark matter, such as axions and dark photons. Second, these same algorithms can identify ordinary ionizing particles coming from the local environment, such as cosmic rays and natural radioactivity striking qubits. Radioactivity is a significant obstacle in developing a fault-tolerant quantum computer, and on-chip, rapid verification of radioactivity impingent on a qubit provides a way to circumvent their impact on quantum computations.

TANGO aims to pioneer the ultimate platform for High-Frequency Gravitational Wave (HFGW) detection, opening an unexplored observational window in the 100 kHz–10 MHz band. This regime, where cosmology and particle physics converge, offers the potential to unveil new physics beyond… Read more the Standard Model. Building on the MAGE and BAUSCIA experiments, TANGO introduces a radically new detection paradigm: an array of piezoelectric Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) resonators parametrically coupled to superconducting microwave cavities via rf-SQUIDs. This hybrid electromechanical architecture will leverage advanced quantum metrology techniques, combining sideband cooling to reduce mechanical modes near their quantum ground states and Backaction-Evading (BAE) readout. This strategy is designed to minimize quantum fluctuations and measure forces below the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL), achieving a breakthrough strain sensitivity approaching 1e-24 Hz^(-1/2) , an order of magnitude beyond current technologies. The resulting microwave signal is then processed using quantum-limited amplifiers (TWPAs), essential for preserving the ultralow noise level achieved after BAE measurements. By asynchronously cycling cooling and BAE phases across multiple resonators, TANGO will provide broadband, continuous coverage of the HF spectrum. Beyond HFGW detection, TANGO will pioneer the quantum control of macroscopic objects and establish a new class of hybrid quantum sensors. TANGO bridges gravitational-wave astronomy with quantum technology and will represent the starting point for a new generation of quantum-enhanced detectors and precision measurement technologies.

Measurements of extremely weak signals is a challenge because such signals can be easily masked by noise, making it difficult to extract useful information. Therefore, it is particularly important to have signal detection technology at hand which depends on specific applications. The… Read more key element in the receiver chain is the firststage amplifier whose specifications determine the overall performance of the measurement setup. Ideally, the amplifier should have a very low noise temperature and wide bandwidth as the signal frequency is not known a priori. Using parametric amplifiers is the way to go as such amplifiers have extremely low noise temperature and building these amplifiers of superconducting materials reduces their noise even more. Superconducting parametric amplifiers usually rely on the modulation of nonlinear inductance of the Josephson junction (JJ), i.e., a tunnel junction made of two superconductors separated by a thin insulating layer. Although JJ-based amplifiers have been successfully developed and are available on the market, there is an alternative approach, that is to use the nonlinear inductance of a thin and narrow superconducting wire. Such amplifiers have a much simpler design and can be more robust against parameter variation and aging. By combining the two groups’ profound expertise in superconducting devices, microwave and cryogenic engineering and nanofabrication, we aim to develop two types of cryogenic parametric amplifiers operating in the gigaherz frequency range. Hence, the amplifiers will be invaluable in quantum information processing, dark matter search and other sensing applications.

QCD is the fundamental quantum field theory that describes the strong interactions between particles. It is one of the basic building blocks of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and it is responsible for the formation of nuclear matter. In particular,… Read more QCD at high temperature plays a crucial role in understanding a large number of physical processes spanning from the cosmological evolution of the early universe to the interpretation of the experimental results of heavy ions collisions. Due to asymptotic freedom, one could hope that a perturbative description of the dynamics of the theory becomes possible in the high temperature regime. However, the behaviour of the theory is strongly non- perturbative even at very high temperatures and the lattice is the only theoretical framework in which a first-principles, non-perturbative study is possible. So far, most of the numerical studies on the lattice are restricted to the low temperature regime (T<2 GeV) due to technical limitations. In the present project we overcome those limitations by using a recent strategy - proposed and developed by our group - based on using shifted boundary conditions along the temporal direction. Despite the novelty, that method has already given interesting results in the calculation of the Equation of State of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory and, more recently, in QCD for the calculation of the mesonic non-singlet screening masses projected onto zero Matsubara frequency. The purpose of the present application is to extend the above calculations studying, for the first time, the non-static sector of the mesonic screening masses and the baryonic one over a wide range of temperatures. These quantities are very interesting observables from the phenomenological point of view, since they encode fundamental properties of the plasma. Moreover, if the unreliability of the perturbative results obtained in the static sector of the mesonic screening masses were confirmed in those new sectors, this will make it clear that the dynamics of the plasma cannot be explained by the knowledge that we have from perturbation theory. We plan to investigate the above mentioned screening masses at 8 different values of temperature, approximately from 3 GeV, up to very high temperature, about 80 GeV. In order to perform the continuum limit extrapolation, we will take into account 4 different values of the lattice spacing. For this reason, we request computational resources for a total of 50 Mch.

Our understanding of Nature depends on our ability to validate, with experiments, theoretical predictions for observable quantities. The Standard Model of particles describes three of the four known fundamental forces in Nature and has been extensively tested at collider experiments over the last… Read more decades. Strong interactions are one of its components and are characterized by so-called non-perturbative phenomena. Their low-energy contribution to quantities measurable in experiments can be predicted from first principles by discretizing QCD on a four-dimensional lattice and simulate it with Monte Carlo methods on world-class HPC facilities. To test the Standard Model to unprecedented precision the interplay between strong and electromagnetic forces must be considered, and the goal of this project is the prediction of the so-called isospin-breaking corrections for several phenomenologically relevant quantities, from first principles Lattice QCD+QED simulations. The primary focus is on the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, a promising candidate for unveiling new fundamental phenomena beyond our current understanding, but this project opens the door to the precise assessment of isospin-breaking effects also in hadronic tau decays or meson leptonic decays.