Job description:
We invite applications for a PhD position in cosmology at the University
of Geneva, starting in Fall 2021. The successful candidate will join the
Cosmology and Astroparticle physics group at the University of Geneva to
work under the supervision of Dr. Giulia Cusin.
The candidate must have completed a Master degree in physics or equivalent
by the starting date. The position is funded for 4 years. The gross salary
ranges from CHF 52'000 to CHF 68'000 per annum. PhD students are required
to participate in academic activities such as teaching or the organisation
of seminars.
Project: There are two types of astrophysical gravitational wave (GW)
observables: GW from sources that can be detected individually and the
astrophysical background of GW, resulting from the incoherent
superposition of signals emitted by all astrophysical sources from the
onset of stellar activity until today. These two observables contain
complementary astrophysical information and, once combined, they can
provide insight on the properties of faint and distant populations that
cannot be accessed otherwise. A detailed description of signals from
resolvable sources, and of the properties of a stochastic background,
including propagation effects, is crucial to extract accurate information
on the underlying source population. The goal of the project is two fold.
On one side, for resolvable events, we will consider different line of
sight effects, analyse how they affect the waveform and study how they can
be accounted for when building templates. The second goal is to
systematically study the observable properties (e.g. anisotropies and
polarisation) of a stochastic background of GW and of its
cross-correlation with other electromagnetic observables, and explore how
they depend on the underlying astrophysical model of source distribution.
The idea is to develop an effective approach to extract/constrain
astrophysical information out of future background observations (with
third generation GW detectors such as LISA and ET). The project comprises
a part of theoretical modeling and as well a numerical/data analysis part.
Group: The Cosmology and Astroparticle physics group is strongly involved
in study of CMB physics, relativistic effects in galaxy clustering
observation, gravitational wave physics, dark energy, and modified
gravity, see [
cosmology.unige.ch]. Senior members of the group are:
Camille Bonvin, Julien Carron, Ruth Durrer, Martin Kunz, Lucas Lombriser,
Michele Maggiore and Antonio Riotto.
Application: Interested candidates can contact Giulia Cusin, and submit a
dossier with the following documents:
1) curriculum vitae
2) personal statement describing their motivation and research interests (1 page)
3) transcript of all courses with grades
4) the name of two or three people who can be contacted for a reference
The selection of candidates will take place in spring. Applications will
be considered until the position is filled.
Contact: Please contact Giulia Cusin at
giulia.cusin@unige.ch with any questions.