Contact: frederic.vincent[AT]obspm.frLocation: Meudon, France
The LESIA department of Paris Observatory is strongly involved in the GRAVITY project, aiming at observing the surroundings of the Galactic center black hole Sgr A* with exquisite astrometric precision by means of combining the infrared light collected by the 4 unit telescopes at the Very Large Telescope. The main scientific goal of this instrument is to explain the flares of Sgr A*, these bursts of radiation frequently observed in the vicinity of Sgr A*. Flares are certainly a perfect probe of the extreme astrophysics that takes place close to supermassive black holes, and might also be used as a probe of the strong curvature of spacetime close to Sgr A*.
The GRAVITY team at LESIA is offering a PhD position for working on the development of models of Sgr A* flares that will be used for interpreting the current and near-future GRAVITY data. All details on the topic and how to apply can be found at this URL: http://www.adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?langue=fr&site=aaif&matricule_prop=23606
Note that funding of this PhD topic is not yet secured, and depends on the quality of the candidates. The final choice depends on the Paris Doctoral School for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Deadline for application is April 26th 2019.