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| One Postdoctoral Contract Groundbird 2018 | Closing date: 2018-09-30
Contact: Secretariat of the Research Division |
| The IAC (Tenerife) invites applications for ONE three-year postdoctoral contract to work on data analysis, and subsequent scientific exploitation, of the GroundBIRD experiment, a millimetric (145 and 220 GHz) CMB polarimeter to be located at the Teide observatory. This project is aimed to detect the primordial B-mode signal from inflation in the CMB polarisation, and is a collaboration between Japanese (RIKEN, KEK, NAOJ, Kyoto, Saitama and Tohoku universities) and Korean (University of Korea) institutions and the IAC. The participation of the IAC in this project is led by Dr. Ricardo Génova. | | ▸ more | The IAC CMB group has a long experience in CMB research, and in the development and operation of CMB experiments. This group is now leading the QUIJOTE experiment, whose angular resolution and frequency range (10-40 GHz) nicely complement those of GroundBIRD, and has also been heavily involved in the Planck mission. Research topics at the IAC include most areas of astrophysics: solar physics, planetary systems, stellar and interstellar physics, galaxy formation and evolution, and cosmology and astroparticles. These research lines are supported by an ambitious instrumentation programme. The IAC has been selected as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence by the Spanish Government in 2015, a prestigious recognition awarded for the second time to the IAC as a leading research institute in Spain. Further information about the IAC's research programme, its Observatories and the 10.4m GTC is available at the IAC's web page (http://www.iac.es).
Duties: The selected candidate will pursue research related to one or several of the following fields:
? Participation in the commissioning of the GroundBIRD experiment, and analysis of the first-light data, at 150 and 220 GHz. Characterisation of the instrument noise properties, optical quality, beam response, and atmospheric contribution, using the first data of this experiment.
? Characterisation and assessment of systematics: local interferences, ground spillover, atmospheric contamination, sidelobe pickup, leakage from intensity to polarisation.
? Scientific data processing, calibration, and scientific exploitation. Production of the maps at 150 and 220 GHz, validation, noise characterisation and identification of potential residual systematics.
? Joint analysis of GroundBIRD and QUIJOTE data. Cross-correlation of the maps of the two experiments, in the same areas of the sky. Application of component separation techniques and extraction of the common signal.
? Study the contribution of polarised (thermal dust) foregrounds. Application of component separation techniques to extract the cosmological signal.
? Power spectrum estimation and extraction of the cosmological information, in particular constraints on the ratio between tensor and scalar modes, r.
? Act as a contact between the IAC group and the rest of the GroundBIRD collaboration.
Position requirements: The candidates must have a solid track record of research and are expected to have a strong publication record in the field of CMB and, more generally, cosmology.
Qualification requirements: To be eligible for admission, applicants must have obtained a Ph.D. degree in Astrophysics or Physics, within the application deadline (September 30, 2018). A copy of the degree or corresponding stamped certificate (issued by the University where the degree was obtained) must be included. Applicants who have not completed their Ph.D. degree within the application deadline will not be considered.
Selection stage: The selection process will consist of two stages: a merit assessment phase and an interview.
In the merit assessment stage, the Selection Committee will verify and rate the merits documented by the applicants. The maximum score that can be awarded for the assessment of merits will be 80 points, which will be calculated as the sum of the scores obtained in each of the sections.
A) Maximum score: 60 points
? Scientific and technical contributions to the field of research.
? Scientific publications, in quality and quantity, listed in the Science Citation Index (SCI conference contributions; teaching tasks, participation in scientific committees, membership of scientific conference committees, conference organization, journal refereeing, and stays at other research centres.
? Every career stage since the defence of the doctoral thesis will be taken into consideration
B) Maximum score: 20 points
Adequacy of the candidate?s training and experience for the contract applied for
? Data reduction and/or data processing and/or data analysis of CMB experiments, or in general expertise with handling and analysing data from radio and/or sub-mm telescopes.
? Expertise with the analysis and management of large data sets.
? Physics of Galactic foregrounds (thermal dust, synchrotron, spinning dust), their polarisation, and of the CMB polarisation.
? Statistical tools for the analysis and exploitation of CMB data. Component separation techniques and power spectrum estimation.
? Standard CMB software packages, like Healpix. Expertise in coding up basic software (preferred languages: Python, IDL, F90) for the analysis and exploitation of CMB data.
Method of accreditation for both sections: Report on the technical and research activity carried out, accompanied by documentation that proves what was stated in it. Candidates should indicate in this report which group/s they would like to collaborate with and should present a scientific project to be developed during the contract.
C) Interview. Maximum score: 20 points
Candidates who have obtained the minimum score to pass the first phase (50 points) will be called to the second assessment phase at a specific time and date. The second phase will consist in an interview that can take place either in person at the IAC headquarters or using internet communication software (e.g., skype or zoom) that allows voice and image transmission.
During the interview, the candidates will present, for a maximum of 20 minutes, their vision about the adaptation of their professional profile to the position applied for and the development of their research activity if awarded the contract. The Selection Committee may then ask questions about the contents of its presentation and any other aspects that they deem relevant.
The presentation may be in either Spanish or in English.
In this exercise a score of 0 to 20 points will be awarded,
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