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PhD positions in Theory and Phenomenology of High Energy Physics at RWTH Aachen

Prof. M. Czakon and Prof. M. Worek invite applications for Ph.D. positions in theoretical particle physics (hep-ph) with a starting date in the fall of 2024. The PhD projects concern precision Standard Model predictions for the LHC, perturbative QCD, top quark and Higgs boson physics. The recipients will be hosted by the Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. The deadline for applications is June 7, 2024.

We explicitly encourage applications from qualified women. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference if equally qualified.

More information about the Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University can be found at:

https://www.particle-theory.rwth-aachen.de

The PhD positions are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The PhD students will be eligible for association with

  • the Research Training Group: Physics of the Heaviest Particles at the LHC – http://www.rwth-aachen.de/rtg2497
  • the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre: P3H – Particle Physics Phenomenology after the Higgs Discovery – https://p3h.particle.kit.edu/.

Please enclose in the application:

  • cover letter stating your interests, motivation, and preference for either Prof. Czakon or Prof. Worek
  • research statement,
  • curriculum vitae,
  • degree certificates and study transcripts with a description of the grading scheme,
  • abstract (maximum half a page) of your diploma or masters thesis,
  • list of your publications (if any).

Please arrange for 2 letters of recommendation to be submitted via AcademicJobsOnline.org.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a job interview shortly after the deadline. The job interview will include:

  • an oral scientific presentation (20 minutes) given by you on a subject of your choice,
  • an interview to gain a deeper understanding of your knowledge and motivation.

Please find here full details.

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Gravitational-wave SNOWBALLS,Populations, and models, January 20-24, 2025 in Sexten (Italy)

This workshop brings together researchers at the forefront of both forward astrophysical modeling of compact object binary formation and gravitational-wave data analysis in preparation for the upcoming O4 data release of the  LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA interferometers.

Gravitational waves represent an incredibly exciting new frontier in observational astronomy. The rapidly growing data set of mergers of black holes and neutron stars contains information on the compact-object masses, spins, and merger redshifts. The population of these sources has the potential to inform our understanding of fields as broad as stellar and binary evolution, mass-transfer physics, dynamics in dense stellar environments, supernova modeling, nucleosynthesis, chemical evolution, the cosmological history of the Universe, as well as the fundamental theory of gravity. Yet, these discoveries rely on inference using data with limited precision and significant selection effects, using potentially imperfect models that may lead to incorrect conclusions.

The workshop is organized by Davide Gerosa, Ilya Mandel, and Salvatore Vitale at the Sexten Center for Astrophysics, which is located in the beautiful Dolomites, in the Italian Alps. Sexten overlooks the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Three Peaks of Lavaredo) which are among the most iconic peaks in alpinism history. Scientific sessions are hosted at the Bad Moos hotel, which is right next to the ski slopes. Please don’t throw too many snowballs at other conference attendees.

Workshop Website

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5th Gravi-Gamma-Nu workshop, October 9-11, 2024 in Bari

Fifth edition of the Gravi-Gamma-Nu workshop to be held in the historic city center of Bari in the Puglia region of Italy from October 9-11, 2024.

This year’s workshop will be dedicated to covering the latest multi-messenger observational results on AGN and black holes combined with highlights on novel simulation techniques and analysis methods.

The format of the workshop consists of invited and contributed talks. Information regarding the workshop, including the list of confirmed invited speakers can be found on the webpage.

Registration and abstract submission opened on May 1st. We strongly encourage the participation of PhD and early career researchers.

Workshop Website

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Erlangen School for Astroparticle Physics 2024, October 7-15, in Obertrubach-Bärnfels

Announcement: the 20th edition of the annual School for Astroparticle Physics, to be held from 7th to 15th October 2024 in Obertrubach-Bärnfels, close to Erlangen, Germany. The school is aimed at advanced graduate and PhD students from all fields of experimental and theoretical astroparticle physics. It will be held in English and is open for international participation.

The school covers topics from astrophysics to particle physics and cosmology.
Lectures are given by key scientists in the field, please find a list of speakers in the attached poster. The school combines education, discussion and contributions by the participants. The participation fee of 500 Euro covers accommodation and meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee breaks). Further information and the registration form can be found on

http://www.astroteilchenschule.nat.fau.de/

We would be delighted to welcome participants from your groups.

The deadline for registration is June 9, 2024, 12pm. If a visa letter is required, prospective participants should contact us as soon as possible, well before the registration deadline.

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Remembering Astrophysicist Peter Bender

Credit: Steven Burrows, JILA

It is with great sorrow that we have learnt that Pete Bender, at the age of 93, passed away last Saturday, 22 April 2024.

LISA, as we know it today, has for a large part its origin in Pete’s creativity, deep physical insight and intellectual rigor.
It is a small consolation that he could witness the final approval of the mission by the European Space Agency last January.

Pete has been a guide and a model for many of us in the LISA community, and his legacy and example will continue to drive our effort toward the success of the LISA mission.

Read the Obituary on the JILA Website
You could also add something to the Memorial Page

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LISA Precision Measurement Scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center

The Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is seeking a research astrophysicist with expertise in metrology, precision measurement, and/or instrumentation for gravitational wave detection to support NASA’s participation in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. Application Deadline: May 31st 2024.

This position is for a Research Astrophysicist (civil service scientist) Term Hire not to exceed 2 years with the option to extend to a maximum of 6 years, and the option to be made permanent without further competition.

LISA is a mission led by the European Space Agency to build and operate the first space-based observatory of gravitational waves with sensitivity in the millihertz band and a wide variety of applications in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. NASA’s contributions to LISA, which are being led by the Goddard Space Flight Center, include the delivery of critical instrument systems of telescopes and precision laser light sources.

The selected individual will work with the existing LISA team at Goddard, including scientists, engineers, project managers, and support staff to contribute to the successful delivery of the instrument systems. Duties will include designing and conducting verification and validation of instrument prototypes and flight models; contributing to system-level models of instrument performance; and interfacing with precision measurement scientists at ESA and other European partners. While support for LISA is the primary focus for this position, the employee will also have opportunities to propose self-directed research to study gravitational waves or other areas of astrophysics.

This will be a 2-step process. The first phase, through May 31, 2024, seeks declarations of interest in this position via a submitted letter of interest and other documents (see below). The second phase will be a USAJOBS posting, anticipated in June 2024. Those who respond during phase 1 will receive additional notification when the respective USAJOBS opportunity opens. Note that phase 1 is the ‘strongly encouraged’ phase and phase 2 is the ‘required’ phase.

The position will reside at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC.

US citizenship is required at the time of the Phase 2/USAJOBS application. Those who are expecting U.S. citizenship by the time of the Phase 2 opportunity are encouraged to submit materials during Phase 1, even if they do not yet have their U.S. citizenship. A Ph.D. degree is preferred. This is an early to mid-career position that will be posted at the GS-13 and GS-14 levels.

Interested applicants should contact Diana Elben (diana.m.elben(at)nasa.gov) by 5/31/2024. Please use the subject line “2024 LISA Precision Measurement Scientist”. Inquiries about the position may be addressed to Dr. John Baker at john.g.baker(at)nasa.gov. Additional application material will be required in Phase 2 via the USAJobs website; the USAJobs posting is anticipated sometime in June 2024.

Please find here details.

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11th International Fermi Symposium, September 9-13, 2024, College Park, Maryland

This symposium follows previous Fermi Symposia at Stanford, CA (February 2007), Washington, DC (November 2009), Rome, Italy (May 2011), Monterey, CA (November 2012), Nagoya, Japan (October 2014), Arlington, VA (November 2015), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (October 2017), Baltimore, MD (October 2018), virtual (April 2021), and Johannesburg, South Africa (October 2022).

The two Fermi instruments have been surveying the high-energy sky since August 2008. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) has discovered more than seven thousand new sources and many new source classes, bringing the importance of gamma-ray astrophysics to an ever-broadening community. The LAT catalog includes supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, pulsars, binary systems, novae, several classes of active galaxies, starburst galaxies, normal galaxies, and a large number of unidentified sources. Continuous monitoring of the high-energy gamma-ray sky has uncovered numerous outbursts from a wide range of transients. Fermi LAT’s study of diffuse gamma-ray emission in our galaxy revealed giant bubbles shining in gamma rays. The direct measurement of a harder-than-expected cosmic-ray electron spectrum may imply the presence of nearby cosmic-ray accelerators. LAT data have provided stringent constraints on new phenomena such as supersymmetric dark-matter annihilations as well as tests of fundamental physics. The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) continues to be a prolific detector of gamma-ray transients: magnetars, solar flares, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and gamma-ray bursts at keV to MeV energies, and complementing gravitational wave observations by LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA and the higher energy LAT observations of those sources.

All gamma-ray data are made immediately available at the Fermi Science Support Center. These publicly available data and Fermi analysis tools have enabled a large number of important studies. We especially encourage guest investigators worldwide to participate in this symposium to share results and to learn about upcoming opportunities.

This meeting will focus on the new scientific investigations and results enabled by Fermi, the mission and instrument characteristics, future opportunities, and coordinated observations and analyses.

Symposium Website

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DTP/TALENT 2024, Nuclear Theory for Astrophysics, July 15 – August 2 2024, Trento

Nuclear physics and astrophysics are strongly linked through neutron stars, compact objects that represent the densest form of matter in the universe. Neutron stars also have strong synergies to nucleosynthesis and the origin of the heaviest elements in the cosmos. This TALENT school will cover: 1) the equation of state of neutron-rich matter and new constraints inferred from nuclear theory, experiment and observations, 2) core-collapse supernova as the birthplace of neutron stars, and 3) neutron star mergers and gravitational waves to probe the neutron-star interior. In the last years, there has been an enormous progress in theory, experiments, and observation and we aim to bring to the students a broad overview combined with concrete and practical exercises to achieve a comprehensive understanding of neutron stars from the nuclear and astrophysics perspectives.

TOPICS and SCHEDULING
Week one: Nuclear physics of neutron stars

The lectures will explain how to build an equation of state for neutron rich matter that is consistent with known properties of finite nuclei and neutron stars. The students will learn how to build a TOV solver in order to compute the mass-radius relation for a small sample of realistic equations of state. The lectures will conclude with some of the important open questions in the field.

Week two: Birth of neutron stars in core-collapse supernovae.

We will briefly review the stellar evolution of massive stars and discuss in detail their collapse and explosions as supernovae. The students will gain a deep understanding of the explosions and the role of the equation of state on the supernova dynamics, neutrino emission and nucleosynthesis. The seminars will cover neutrino astrophysics and the role of magnetic fields in supernovae.

Week three: Neutron star mergers

Lectures and tutorials will focus on numerical relativity simulations of neutron star mergers where the students will also familiarize themselves with some open source codes used in the community. The lectures will also cover our current understanding of the gravitational and
electromagnetic emission that can be produced by these systems, including r-process/kilonova and short gamma ray bursts.

Organizers
Almudena Arcones (TU Darmstadt)
Bruno Giacomazzo (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca)
Jorge Piekarewicz (Florida State University)

Registration
Registration available until 10/05/2024.

Application for the ECT* DTP/TALENT 2024 should be made electronically through the webform.

Application should include:

  • Curriculum vitae
  • Description of academic and scientific achievements
  • Short letter expressing the applicant’s personal motivation for participating in the programme

In addition a reference letter from the candidate’s supervisor, addressed to “The Director of ECT*”, should be sent by email to – gazzoli(at)ectstar.eu

Students are welcome to arrive on July, 14th. The checkout time is fixed in August, 3rd.

Collection of applications will end on May 10, when registration closes.
Applicants will be notified of the selection results within the next two weeks.

The selection of participants will be made by a committee composed of the scientific Organizers and the Director of ECT*.

The selection criteria will cover both formal and merit aspects:

  • compliance with the submission date
  • completeness of the required documentation
  • evaluation of merit measured on the basis of the CV, documentented scientiftic achievements and letter of support

In order to promote the participation from under-represented groups in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas ECT* may provide modular scholarships as a contribution to facilitate the attendance of selected candidates.

An additional requirement for this possible subsequent selection will be consideration of participants based in underrepresented countries and with a certifiable lack of access to research funds at affiliating institutions.

PhD students and ECRs based in Trento are allowed to apply for DTP/TALENT programs, but are not eligible for financial support.

School Website

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SoUP2024, October 14-18 at the Bertinoro University Center

SoUP is an advanced school for PhD students, post-docs and young researchers willing to gain deeper knowledge in topics related to underground physics. The 2024 edition is organized by INFN-Bologna at the Bertinoro University Center (CEUB) in the MiddleAge village of Bertinoro (FC – Italy). Lectures start on Monday 14th October and end at noon on Friday 18th October. The school includes lectures and hands-on sessions on Physics Phenomenology, Detection Techniques, Instrumentation Technologies.

A Speed-talk event and a Poster session are also foreseen.

Here the list of Topics and Lecturers:

  • Dark Matter Phenomenology. Lecturer: Marco Cirelli (LPTHE Paris)
  • Neutrino Phenomenology. Lecturer: Marco Pallavicini (University & INFN Genova) Axion Phenomenology and Detection. Lecturer: Gianni Carugno (INFN Padova)
  • Liquid Scintillators and Water Cherenkov Detectors. Lecturers: Barbara Caccianiga (INFN Milano), Giorgio Riccobene (INFN LNS)
  • Noble Liquid Detectors. Lecturer: Giuliana Fiorillo (University & INFN Naples)
  • Solid State Detectors. Lecturer: Marco Vignati (University & INFN Roma La Sapienza)
  • Statistics (Principles and Hands-on session). Lecturer: Knut Mora (Columbia University)
  • Novel Photodetectors. Lecturer: Alberto Gola (FBK Trento)
  • Material Screening. Lecturer: Monica Sisti (INFN Milano Bicocca)

Final Registration and Fee Payment are now open:

  • deadline for the Early registration fee of 650 euro: June 15
  • deadline for the Standard registration fee of 700 euro: July 31.

The fee covers:

admission to all lectures;
lodging in a double room for 5 nights, from Sunday evening to Friday morning (+50 euro for single room, if available);
breakfast, lunch, and two coffee breaks per day (Mon-Fri);
the social dinner;
welcome party;
shuttle from/to the railway station in Forlì.

We invite all Undergrad, PhD students and PostDoc to register asap.

School Website

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GEMMA2, September 16-19, 2024, Rome

Announcement of the International GEMMA2 (G ravitational-waves, E lectro M agnetic and dark MA tter) Physics Workshop to be held in Rome (Italy) from September 16th to September 19th, 2024.

The aim of the GEMMA2 workshop is to discuss on gravitational waves, multimessenger astrophysics and dark matter physics at these especially exciting times, bringing together mainly the theoretical and data-analysis aspects of such apparently heterogeneous fields. Registration is now open and Abstract Submission on these topics is welcome.

GEMMA2 is organised into days focused on key topics introduced by invited speakers (who will be announced soon) and followed by contributed talks.

There will also be a poster session, along with two Young Scientist GEMMA2 Awards for the best poster contributions by skilled young researchers.

The deadline for abstract submission is June 16th, 2024, and the deadline for early registration is June 28th, 2024. The LOC and the SOC are looking forward to welcoming you to Rome.

Workshop Website