Postdoctoral Researchers in Galaxy Evolution with MIGHTEE

Post 1 is available initially for a fixed-term duration of up to 2 years with the possibility of an extension for a further 2 years. Post 2 is available initially for a fixed-term duration of up to 2 years with the possibility of an extension for a further 3 years

The Department of Physics invites applications for two postdoctoral positions in the University of Oxford.  The MIGHTEE survey (Jarvis et al. 2016) is a galaxy evolution survey currently being carried out with the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. It has three components, radio continuum spectral line and polarisation. When complete, it will have surveyed around 20 square degrees over four of the most well-studied extragalactic deep fields accessible from the Southern Hemisphere.

There are two postdoctoral positions available that cover two broad areas within the research programme working with Prof Matt Jarvis on the MIGHTEE survey (Jarvis et al 2016) funded through the award of a UKRI Frontiers Research Grant, based on an approved ERC Advanced Grant programme.

The first area of work is to quantify the large-scale environment to understand how galaxies evolve within dark matter haloes and the cosmic web. Specifically, we will use the wealth of multi-wavelength data over these fields, coupled with spectroscopic and photometric redshift information to quantify the environment and large-scale structure, in combination with the HI and radio continuum data from the MIGHTEE survey, to understand how environment influences galaxy formation and evolution.

The second area will be to further develop and implement “Bayesian stacking” (see e.g. Malefalho et al. 2022; Pan et al. 2021; 2022) to extract the maximum amount of information from the HI and radio continuum data, based on the very deep optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy. To measure for example; the HI mass function and Tully-Fisher relation with the spectral line information; and the evolution of star formation and AGN activity into the epoch of reionisation; at much deeper levels than is possible from direct detections alone

Successful candidates will have, or be about to receive, a PhD in a relevant area of astronomy or astrophysics, should have a demonstrated capacity for independent work and be capable of carrying out research in a large and inclusive group. The researchers will be expected to supervise undergraduate students and Co-supervise graduate students within the group.

The post-holder will have the opportunity to teach. 

Only applications received before midday 14 October 2022 can be considered. You will be required to upload a brief statement of research interests and your, CV.  You should arrange for your 2 referees to send your reference to [email protected] before the closing date.