PhD in relativistic astrophysics in Paris/France

The LESIA department of Paris Observatory invites applications for a PhD on relativistic orbit fitting of stars surrounding the supermassive black hole Sgr A* at the center of the Galaxy.

LESIA is the founding partner with the PI institute, MPE, of VLTI/GRAVITY, an instrument that combines the light from the four 8-meter telescopes of the Very Large Telescope to study the Galactic center. One of the main scientific goals of GRAVITY is to use stars orbiting close to Sgr A* as probes of the strong gravitational field, detect relativistic effects, and constrain the properties of the central black hole (mass, spin). The first results with GRAVITY on Sgr A* contributed to the 2020 Nobel prize in physics. The main goal of the PhD is to develop methodologies for constraining the spin parameter of Sgr A* by the follow up of close-by stars, and determine to what extent are more advanced goals (like constraining the no-hair theorems of black holes) within reach. These new tools will be applied to observed data. The student will participate to the GRAVITY Galactic Center science team.

Candidates are invited to submit their application through the following website (all details are explained there):

https://www.adum.fr/as/ed/voirproposition.pl?langue=en&site=aaif&matricule_prop=39952#version