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Mon 10 Jun 13:00: Title to be confirmed

Upcoming talks - Wed, 17/01/2024 - 10:59
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Abstract not available

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Research Assistant/Associate in the Charge Transport and Thermoelectric Physics of Organic Semiconductors

Department of Physics Jobs - Wed, 17/01/2024 - 00:00

The Optoelectronics Group, of the Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, invites applications for a Research Assistant/Associate to work on an ERC Advanced Grant led by Professor Henning Sirringhaus. The project is focused on studying the thermoelectric physics of organic semiconductors and related functional materials. The project is aiming to achieve a fundamental understanding of how the charge transport and thermoelectric properties of organic semiconductors can be enhanced. The role holder is expected to lead the characterisation of the thermoelectric physics by temperature and magnetic field-dependent transport measurements. The role-holder will be expected to participate actively in collaborations with other post-doctoral researchers and PhD students working on related projects, as well as national and international partners.

Candidates will have completed a PhD degree in a relevant field such as Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or Electrical Engineering. They will have a strong background in semiconductor physics and experience in temperature dependent transport measurements on organic semiconductors.

Appointment as a Research Associate is dependent on having a PhD, including those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD (in which case appointment will initially be made at research assistant - Grade 5, and amended to research associate - Grade 7, when the PhD is awarded).

The position is available from March 2024.

Please see the attached further information file for the relevant post for more role specific details.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 12 months in the first instance.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a health assessment.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Please ensure that you upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV), a cover letter, publications list in the upload section of the online application and the names and contact details of two referees who are familiar with your work/studies in the relevant field. If you upload any additional documents that have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Informal enquiries about the position can be addressed to the Kapitza Hub (kapitza.hr@phy.cam.ac.uk).

The closing date for applications is 2nd February 2024

Please quote reference KA40155 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society. We particularly encourage women and/or candidates from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background to apply for this vacancy.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Mon 12 Feb 13:00: How much (robust) cosmological information can we obtain from galaxy clustering?

Upcoming talks - Tue, 16/01/2024 - 18:52
How much (robust) cosmological information can we obtain from galaxy clustering?

All large-scale structure cosmologists are faced with the question: how do we robustly extract cosmological information, such as on dark energy, gravity, and inflation, from observed tracers such as galaxies whose astrophysics is extremely complex and incompletely understood? I will describe why guaranteeing this robustness is so difficult, and how a perturbative effective-field-theory (EFT) approach offers such a guarantee when focusing on galaxy clustering on large scales. The natural next question then is: how much cosmological information is left on these large scales if we marginalize over all the free parameters introduced in the EFT ? To answer this question, I will introduce our implementation of the EFT on a lattice as an explicit field-level forward model, which can be used both for full Bayesian inference at the field level and for likelihood-free (simulation-based) inference using summary statistics. Finally, I will show first results comparing full field-level inference and summary statistics on fully nonlinear mock tracers.

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Fri 19 Jan 13:00: Formulation Improvements for Critical Collapse

Upcoming talks - Tue, 16/01/2024 - 14:19
Formulation Improvements for Critical Collapse

Reliable numerical simulations require a thorough control of all non-physical dynamics that can appear, such as constraint violations and coordinate singularities. These become more challenging in the strong-field regime and particularly near the threshold of collapse, where, in the absence of a horizon, arbitrarily large curvatures cannot be excised. At this threshold, a regular and universal structure emerges in spherical symmetry, referred to as critical phenomena. Beyond sphericity, the picture of critical collapse is unclear. Clarification demands simulations that are closer to the threshold. To that end, we propose two formulation improvements for critical collapse simulations. To control constraint violations, we modify the constraint damping parameters of the generalised harmonic gauge formulation, adapting them to collapsing spacetimes. This allows us to simulate at the closest to the threshold with this formulation to date. Secondly, we propose a necessary condition for a gauge choice to respect discrete self-similarity. After evaluating common gauge choices against this condition, we suggest a compatible gauge source function.

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Thu 18 Jan 16:00: Supernova frontier, beyond standard stellar demises

Upcoming talks - Tue, 16/01/2024 - 12:23
Supernova frontier, beyond standard stellar demises

The last decade has opened up a new parameter space in time-domain astronomy with the discovery of extragalactic transients defying our understanding of how stars explode. Some of those represent the brightest event of the transient zoo – called superluminous supernova – while many others show different degrees of interactions with the material expelled before the death of the star. The collected dataset and the understanding of such events have surpassed any initial expectations and opened up a future exploding with potential, spanning from novel tools of high-redshift cosmological investigation to new insights into the final stages of massive stars.

Join me in this seminar as we embark on a retrospective journey, exploring the unforeseen dimensions of these cosmic phenomena. Be ready for a sneak peek into the cosmic theatre, where the stage is set for the next decade’s astronomical wonders. Discover how these observations could reshape our understanding of stellar explosions and connected research areas.

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Thu 18 Jan 16:00: Title to be confirmed

Upcoming talks - Tue, 16/01/2024 - 10:08
Title to be confirmed

Abstract not available

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Research Assistant / Research Associate in Radio Instrumentation (Fixed Term)

Department of Physics Jobs - Tue, 16/01/2024 - 00:00

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 2 years in the first instance.

A position exists for a Research Assistant / Research Associate in Radio Astronomy Instrumentation.

The aim of the role is to develop radio instrumentation, with a special focus on digital back-ends for 21-cm cosmology from space (i.e. CosmoCube mission). A new era of radio astronomy is coming. Radio Frequency Interference from human-made sources, the presence of the ionosphere, and even the radiation from the soil, impose great challenges for ground-based radio experiments attempting the study of the early epochs of the Universe via studies of the 21-cm line from atomic Hydrogen. With the Moon in the agenda of all space agencies again, a new opportunity arises to develop, launch and operate radio experiments from the most pristine observation environment in the solar system: the far side of the Moon.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and bright researcher to work on the development of the digital back-ends of highly accurate radiometers for the next generation instruments. A successful candidate would be expected to take initiative and propose solutions to existing problems as well as to start new research.

The successful candidate will hold a PhD (or close to obtaining) in engineering, physics, astronomy or a closely related area with a proven track record in digital systems (e.g. FPGAs, RFSoC, SDRs, etc). Preference will be given to candidates with experience in firmware/software development as demonstrated by publications in major journals. A solid understanding of radio instrumentation with application in astronomy is desired.

The candidate will also have the ability to communicate effectively its own research and to perform management tasks for the projects they will work on, including liaising with industry partners, organisation of meetings, etc.

The post holder will be located at the Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE.

Research Associate: £36,024 - £44,263 (Grade 7). Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant (Grade 5, Point 38 - £32,982) moving to Research Associate (Grade 7) upon confirmation of your PhD award.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Please ensure that you upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a covering letter in the upload section of the online application. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application. Please submit your application by midnight on the closing date.

If you have any questions about this vacancy please contact Dr Eloy de Lera Acedo (ed330@phy.cam.ac.uk.). If you have any questions about the application process, please contact mott.hr@phy.cam.ac.uk.

Please quote reference KA40143 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Tue 12 Mar 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:03
TBC

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Tue 12 Mar 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:03
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Tue 05 Mar 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:02
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Tue 05 Mar 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:02
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Tue 27 Feb 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:02
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Tue 27 Feb 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:02
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Tue 13 Feb 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:00
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Tue 13 Feb 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:00
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Tue 06 Feb 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:00
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Tue 06 Feb 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 14:00
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Tue 30 Jan 13:00: TBC

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 13:59
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Tue 30 Jan 13:00: TBC

Upcoming talks - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 13:59
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Tue 23 Jan 13:00: From dust to planets: The ALMA and VLA view of planet formation

None - Mon, 15/01/2024 - 13:58
From dust to planets: The ALMA and VLA view of planet formation

Over the last decade, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) made it possible to observe protoplanetary discs, the birth sites of planets, at unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity, revolutionizing our understanding of planet formation. When observed at high-enough angular resolution, protoplanetary discs show sequences of axisymmetric dark and bright substructures, colloquially referred to as “gaps and rings”. The origin of such substructures and the role they play in the planet formation process are, however, still debated. They are considered to be either the signposts of ongoing interactions between discs and their hosting (proto-)planets, or the ideal location for the formation of new planetary bodies. The best way to solve this “chicken and the egg” problem is characterizing the physical properties of these gaps and rings. In this talk, I will first discuss recent attempts to observationally infer the size, density, and temperature of dust in these rings, relying on collecting and modelling multi-frequency, i.e. (sub-)mm to cm, continuum data in a handful of well studied systems. I will then show how dust properties, in combination with gas kinematics, can be used to understand if bright rings are prone to the formation of new planets. Finally, I will discuss how my results can be extended to a statistical level using mid-resolution observations of populations of discs in nearby star-formation regions.

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Cambridge CB3 0HE

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