Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position at the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble (IPAG, France). The successful candidate will join the ERC-CoG funded project SPAWN led by Benoît Cerutti to work on ab-initio plasma simulations of black hole magnetospheres. The goal is to better understand the plasma dynamics, jet launching and particle acceleration in the close environment of a rotating black hole in the context of horizon-scale observations of supermassive black holes, with a particular emphasis on EHT and VLTI-Gravity observations of SgrA* and M87*. The successful candidate will have access to the state-of-the-art general relativistic radiative particle-in-cell code Zeltron, and to high-performance computing facilities at the French and European levels.
The candidates must have a PhD in astrophysics or closely related disciplines, preferably with a strong background in computational astrophysics. The appointment is for 2 years, up to 3 years upon performance, with a starting date in the Fall 2021. Remuneration will depend on qualification and experience. The position will come with standard French healthcare benefits together with a generous research and travel budget.
Interested candidates should submit a curriculum vitae, publication list, and a brief statement of research interests and arrange for three recommendation letters to be sent by December 18th to [email protected]. Later applications will be considered until the position has been filled.
IPAG is a major French institute in astrophysical research under the supervision of both the CNRS and the University of Grenoble Alpes. The institute is located on the campus of the Grenoble Alpes University, nested in the heart of the French Alps, about 1 hour away from Lyon and 2 hours away from Geneva. IPAG has about 160 personnel active in fields as diverse as high-energy astrophysics, astrochemistry, exoplanets, star and planet formation, planetology and instrumentation, in particular in interferometry with active members of the Gravity collaboration including the co-PI of the instrument. The institute is also located next door to IRAM which takes part in the EHT array. The successful candidate will join the high-energy team (the Sherpas), a lively research group with a strong expertise in numerical plasma simulations (PIC and MHD), accretion disk, black hole magnetospheres and jets, pulsars, particle acceleration and radiative processes.