Two Post-Doctoral position at INAF-IAPS (Rome) in Galactic star formation with the ERC-Syn ECOGAL Project

The ERC Synergy Project "ECOGAL: Understanding our Galactic ecosystem -- From the disk of the Milky Way to the formation sites of stars and planets" brings together European research groups in observational and numerical astrophysics with the goal to build a unifying predictive model of star and planet formation in the Milky Way and to understand the Galaxy as a complex dynamically evolving ecosystem. The main participating institutions are INAF-IAPS Rome, CEA Saclay, Heidelberg University and Università di Bologna.

The Team in INAF-IAPS (Rome) is inviting applications for two 3-years postdoctoral positions in the field of Galactic star formation:

• Position 1 [Job Code 2023-25-AR]: “Early star formation in Galactic protoclusters: evolutionary study of fragmentation, dynamics and chemistry with the ALMAGAL Survey”. ALMAGAL is a cycle 7 ALMA Large Project that observes in millimeter continuum and spectroscopy more than 1000 sites of Galactic high-mass star formation at a 1000AU-scale in a variety of evolutionary stages and locations in the Galaxy. The selected candidate will lead, in collaboration with other ALMAGAL Teams, studies of fragmentation, chemistry and/or dynamics in clustered high-mass star formation based on the survey data, including comparison with predictions from numerical simulations developed in the Saclay ECOGAL node, as well lead follow-ups with ALMA and other facilities. 
• Position 2 [Job Code 2023-26-AR]: “The formation of dense structures in the Galactic ISM: post-processing of numerical simulations and comparison with large-scale Galactic surveys of dust and molecular gas” . The selected candidate will use large-scale panoramic surveys of the Galactic Plane in continuum and molecular lines to study the timeline and the relevant physics involved in the spatial cascade that organizes the diffuse ISM into dense and potentially star-forming filaments and dense clumps. The physical, dynamical and morphological properties of these structures will be analysed against post-processed (RADMC-3D, POLARIS) predictions from numerical simulations developed in the Heidelberg and Saclay ECOGAL nodes.

The successful candidates will work in IAPS Rome as part of a large international team that includes the other ECOGAL nodes and ALMAGAL teams. The positions come with research and travel budget.

Interested candidates are encouraged to get in touch with Dr. Sergio Molinari at [email protected] for any inquiry about the positions.