Up to three Doctoral students in Theoretical Physics - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Theoretical Particle Physics group has openings for up to three doctoral students in Particle Physics Phenomenology, starting in the autumn of 2018, or by agreement.

The Lund group currently consists of seven senior scientists, two postdoctoral fellows and ten doctoral students. Leif Lönnblad, Malin Sjödahl, Torbjörn Sjöstrand and Gösta Gustafson (emeritus) work on various aspects of QCD and collider phenomenology, with emphasis on event generator development. Johan Bijnens mainly works on hadron and flavour physics, notably with chiral perturbation theory as a tool. Johan Rathsman and Roman Pasechnik are mainly working on the phenomenology of physics beyond the Standard Model, especially Higgs physics and unified gauge theories. The group expects to hire one tenured and one tenure-track researcher during 2018. Further information about the group can be found on the website http://particle.thep.lu.se/.

We enjoy good relations with the experimental particle physics group in Lund, which is a member of ATLAS and ALICE, and which explores the possibility of fundamental physics experiments at the upcoming European Spallation Source in Lund.

Description of work

The successful applicants will all work on topics related to projects pursued by the group listed above, but with somewhat different emphasis.  The first position is for work primarily on research and development of event generator models. The second position is also for development of event generators, but specifically for simulating heavy ion collisions within the scope of the KAW project CLASH. The third position is for theoretical work within one or more of the areas low-energy particle physics, especially flavour physics or hadron physics using effective field theories, physics of extendedHiggs models or beyond the Standard Model physics, in or near to the subareas where Johan Bijnens, Johan Rathsman or Roman Pasechnik are active.

Supervisors will be appointed at the beginning of the studies, and integrate each student in their ongoing research. The focus may shift as new topics of interest appear; particle physics is a dynamical field and results e.g. from the LHC collider may inspire new research projects. The students are also expected to take a number of courses in theoretical physics, see http://www.thep.lu.se/~bijnens/PhD/ and https://www.science.lu.se/sites/science.lu.se.internal/files/syllabi_theoretical_physics.pdf and may be required to perform a modest amount of other duties, such as teaching and administration, according to the specific regulations.

Qualifications

The position is open to students of all nationalities who fulfills the basic and special eligibility demands in the study plan http://www.science.lu.se/sites/science.lu.se.internal/files/syllabi_theoretical_physics.pdf . In brief the requirements are that the student, at the time of starting the PhD studies, have completed a master degree in physics or theoretical physics, alternatively have completed a bachelor degree, plus an additional full year of advanced-level physics of theoretical physics, i.e. a total of at least four years of full-time University studies (240 ECTS credits), or have obtained equivalent qualifications in Sweden or abroad. Detailed rules can be found at http://www.science.lu.se/education/phd-studies . Fluent spoken and written English is required.

Basis of Assessment

Regulations concerning appointment as a full PhD student can be found in HF 5 Chap 1-7§§ and SFS 1998:80. Those who hold a doctoral student appointment must first be accepted for postgraduate study. To be accepted, a student must be judged to have the competence necessary to complete a PhD during the tenure of the appointment. Among candidates, a ranking will be based on grades, the quality of undergraduate theses, if any, letters of recommendation, other relevant information provided, and ultimately (phone) interviews. Previous courses and project work in particle physics is an advantage. Experience with scientific programming in a Unix/Linux environment is also a merit, especially familiarity with C++.

Application procedure

The application should be submitted electronically using the recruitment system of Lund University https://www.science.lu.se/about-faculty/vacant-positions . On the linked page to the current positions click on the "Login and apply" button and follow instructions.  Applications instead sent directly to one of the group memebers cannot be considered.

Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a description of research interests and past experience, copies of degrees, diplomas and grades, and copies of any previous research-related work. The CV should contain at least date and place of birth, nationality, address, education, and language skills, but may also contain e.g. additional skills, personal interests, honors and awards, teaching experience, conference and summer school participation, and publication lists. Upon request the applicants must be able to show original documents of degrees etc.

The application should also include the names, positions, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses of at least two persons who have agreed to serve as a reference for the applicant. They need not send letters until contacted, but if they do, letters should be sent by e-mail directly to leif.lonnblad@thep.lu.se .