Contact: vdbroeck[AT]nikhef.nlLocation: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Virgo group at Nikhef has an opening for a PhD student in gravitational wave data analysis.
Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands, where approximately 175 physicists and 75 technical staff members work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together they perform excellent theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. Among the research collaborations Nikhef participates in are the ATLAS, LHCb and ALICE experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the Virgo interferometer in Pisa, the XENON Dark Matter detector in Gran Sasso and the Pierre Auger cosmic rays observatory in Argentina. Nikhef is a collaboration between 5 major Dutch universities and the Nikhef research institute.
The successful candidate will work on the development of novel methods for analysing gravitational wave data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors, with a view on directly probing the structure of compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Understanding the neutron star equation of state is a major open problem in astrophysics, which can now be addressed by studying gravitational wave signals from binary neutron star mergers. The student will work on this as part a collaborative effort of the Virgo and ALICE groups at Nikhef. He or she will be a member of the Virgo Collaboration, and will have full access to all Virgo and LIGO data.
The successful candidate has a master in physics. Strong software skills are highly desirable. The student will be employed by the NWO-I-foundation as a junior scientist. He or she will receive a 4 year contract with a competitive salary. The conditions of employment of the NWO-I-foundation are excellent and can be found on the website of the employer: http://www.nwo-i.nl.
The educational programme of the Dutch research school for subatomic physics offers annual graduate schools for PhD students, as well as frequent series of lectures on advanced topics in (astro)particle physics.
Qualified applicants are encouraged to apply through the online portal: https://www.nikhef.nl/jobs/vacatures/. Please be prepared to upload a curriculum vitae and have the email address ready of at least one referee who is willing to send a letter of recommendation on your behalf. The deadline for applications is January 3rd, 2018.
Further information on this position can be obtained from Prof. Dr. Chris Van Den Broeck (vdbroeck@nikhef.nl).