Feed aggregator

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Emily Wisnioski (ANU)
• Friday 12 April 2024, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + online.
• Series: Galaxies Discussion Group; organiser: Sandro Tacchella.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

We have a rare opportunity for a dynamic and highly experienced Cavendish HR Manager to join our passionate and dedicated community. The Department is home to over 2000 staff, students and visitors across a large range of disciplines and categories, where exemplary delivery of world-leading, innovative research programmes and teaching takes place.

The Cavendish Laboratory is at an exciting point in its 150-year history, and undergoing a substantial period of transformation, as it prepares for its relocation to a beautiful, purpose-built physics facility, the Ray Dolby Centre. As a direct result of this migration, we are taking the opportunity to review and modernise many of our professional services practices and ways of working to ensure the community are all supported efficiently and effectively, regardless of their category or status. The strategic development and transformation of the Department's operations, and service implementation, will enhance the Cavendish's continued growth and success.

As a member of the Department's senior management team, the Cavendish HR Manager plays a key role in the areas of work force strategy, planning, governance, case-work resolution, management and provision of accurate HR advice to all staff and students. The successful candidate will work closely with the Head of Operations (HOO) to ensure the Department's approach to resource allocation is both compliant and effective. You will lead and work operationally with a dedicated HR team, to ensure the smooth and efficient running of all HR-related functions within the Department. You will be responsible for reporting to, or participating in appropriate Department, School and University committees on the HR impacts of key developments, including the Ray Dolby Centre Project and its operational reorganisation.

This full-time post is available now.

Some of our many benefits include:

• 41 days annual leave, inclusive of Bank Holidays

• Family & Work-life balance policies including hybrid working and generous carer leave (maternity, paternity, shared parental leave, adoption leave), amongst others

• Generous pension scheme

• Exclusive employee discounts via our CamBens scheme

• Personal Development: The Department actively encourages and supports personal development and our staff have access to a wide range of courses and training via our Personal and Professional Development (PPD) service.

The Essential requirements (E) outlined in the further particulars are those, without which, a candidate would not be able to do the job to the high standards required.

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

For informal enquiries please contact Samantha Stokes at sam.stokes@admin.cam.ac.uk

Please quote reference KA40354 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.

The homogeneous dynamo effect in moving electrically conducting fluids, such as liquid metals or plasmas, is responsible for magnetic-field generation in planets, stars and galaxies. Magnetic fields, in turn, can promote cosmic structure formation by destabilizing, via the magnetorotational instability (MRI), rotational flows in accretion disks that otherwise would be hydrodynamically stable.

For a long time, those topics have been the subject of purely theoretical and numerical research. This situation changed in 1999 when the threshold of magnetic-field self-excitation was crossed in two large-scale liquid-sodium experiments in Riga and Karlsruhe. Later, the VKS dynamo experiment in Cadarache successfully reproduced field reversals and excursions that are of great geophysical interest. Various types of the MRI were studied in liquid metal experiments at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). A liquid-rubidium experiment at the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HLD) reached the “magic point” of coinciding Alfvén and sound speeds, which is thought to play a key role for the heating of the solar corona.

After a short introduction to the basic equations of magnetohydrodynamics, the lecture gives an overview about previous and future liquid metal experiments on dynamo action, Alfvén waves, and magnetically triggered flow instabilities such as the MRI . Special focus lies on a precession driven dynamo experiment that is presently being constructed in frame of the DRESDYN project at HZDR . Closely related to this, some emphasis is placed on the potential role of various astronomical forcings in triggering reversals of the geodynamo or even synchronizing the solar dynamo.

• Speaker: Frank Stefani (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden)
• Monday 05 February 2024, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: MR14 DAMTP and online.
• Series: DAMTP Astrophysics Seminars; organiser: Roger Dufresne.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

In the context of inflation, we show how to account for quantum modes in general and numerical relativity on scales bigger than the Hubble radius, from where they behave classically and can grow non-perturbatively.

We provide a formulation of Stochastic Inflation in full general relativity that goes beyond the slow-roll and separate universe approximations. Starting from the initial conditions problem in numerical relativity, we show how gauge invariant Langevin source terms can be obtained for the complete set of Einstein equations in their ADM formulation by providing a recipe for coarse-graining the spacetime in any small gauge. These stochastic source terms are defined in terms of the only dynamical scalar degree of freedom in single-field inflation and all depend simply on the first two time derivatives of the coarse-graining window function, on the gauge-invariant mode functions that satisfy the Mukhanov-Sasaki evolution equation, and on the slow-roll parameters.

We validate the efficacy of these Langevin dynamics directly using an example in uniform field gauge, obtaining the stochastic e-fold number without the need for a first-passage-time analysis. As well as investigating the most commonly used gauges in cosmological perturbation theory, we also derive stochastic source terms for the coarse-grained first-order BSSN formulation of Einstein’s equations, which enables a well-posed implementation for 3+1 numerical relativity simulations.

Based on https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.08530v1

• Speaker: Yoann Launay, DAMTP, University of Cambridge
• Friday 02 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Potter room/Zoom.
• Series: DAMTP Friday GR Seminar; organiser: Xi Tong.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

The atmospheres of close-in exoplanets are extremely vulnerable to the effects of stellar UV to X-ray radiation. Photoevaporation can significantly alter planetary atmospheres or even strip them entirely, potentially rendering a planet uninhabitable. Understanding how these atmospheres evolve, persist, or fade away remains a fundamental challenge. In this talk, I will discuss two distinct but interconnected areas of photoevaporative research.

Firstly, I will discuss the interaction between the stellar wind and photoevaporating atmospheres. I will present 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the interaction between the stellar wind and the photoevaporating outflow of a planet orbiting an M dwarf. This analysis reveals a diverse range of magnetosphere morphologies and plasma distributions due to the wind-outflow interaction. I consider how these changing morphologies might impact observable hydrogen Lyman-alpha signatures during planetary transits.

In the second part, I will delve into our current understanding of photoevaporation from water-rich atmospheres. Conventional analytic approaches often oversimplify the process, assuming two scenarios: the escape of only lighter hydrogen, or the dragging of oxygen along with escaping hydrogen. These two scenarios lead to two end cases: a planet that has retained its water-rich atmosphere or a planet which has lost its atmosphere, becoming dry and desiccated. I will challenge these oversimplifications by presenting results from a novel 1D multifluid hydrodynamic model of photoevaporation from a water-rich atmosphere, which shows oxygen escape should no longer be described by a simple on/off switch but instead requires careful modelling.

Room changed

• Speaker: Laura Harbach (Imperial)
• Tuesday 06 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Hoyle Committee Room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Emily Sandford.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

The atmospheres of close-in exoplanets are extremely vulnerable to the effects of stellar UV to X-ray radiation. Photoevaporation can significantly alter planetary atmospheres or even strip them entirely, potentially rendering a planet uninhabitable. Understanding how these atmospheres evolve, persist, or fade away remains a fundamental challenge. In this talk, I will discuss two distinct but interconnected areas of photoevaporative research.

Firstly, I will discuss the interaction between the stellar wind and photoevaporating atmospheres. I will present 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the interaction between the stellar wind and the photoevaporating outflow of a planet orbiting an M dwarf. This analysis reveals a diverse range of magnetosphere morphologies and plasma distributions due to the wind-outflow interaction. I consider how these changing morphologies might impact observable hydrogen Lyman-alpha signatures during planetary transits.

In the second part, I will delve into our current understanding of photoevaporation from water-rich atmospheres. Conventional analytic approaches often oversimplify the process, assuming two scenarios: the escape of only lighter hydrogen, or the dragging of oxygen along with escaping hydrogen. These two scenarios lead to two end cases: a planet that has retained its water-rich atmosphere or a planet which has lost its atmosphere, becoming dry and desiccated. I will challenge these oversimplifications by presenting results from a novel 1D multifluid hydrodynamic model of photoevaporation from a water-rich atmosphere, which shows oxygen escape should no longer be described by a simple on/off switch but instead requires careful modelling.

Room changed

• Speaker: Laura Harbach (Imperial)
• Tuesday 06 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Hoyle Committee Room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Emily Sandford.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

The atmospheres of close-in exoplanets are extremely vulnerable to the effects of stellar UV to X-ray radiation. Photoevaporation can significantly alter planetary atmospheres or even strip them entirely, potentially rendering a planet uninhabitable. Understanding how these atmospheres evolve, persist, or fade away remains a fundamental challenge. In this talk, I will discuss two distinct but interconnected areas of photoevaporative research.

Firstly, I will discuss the interaction between the stellar wind and photoevaporating atmospheres. I will present 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the interaction between the stellar wind and the photoevaporating outflow of a planet orbiting an M dwarf. This analysis reveals a diverse range of magnetosphere morphologies and plasma distributions due to the wind-outflow interaction. I consider how these changing morphologies might impact observable hydrogen Lyman-alpha signatures during planetary transits.

In the second part, I will delve into our current understanding of photoevaporation from water-rich atmospheres. Conventional analytic approaches often oversimplify the process, assuming two scenarios: the escape of only lighter hydrogen, or the dragging of oxygen along with escaping hydrogen. These two scenarios lead to two end cases: a planet that has retained its water-rich atmosphere or a planet which has lost its atmosphere, becoming dry and desiccated. I will challenge these oversimplifications by presenting results from a novel 1D multifluid hydrodynamic model of photoevaporation from a water-rich atmosphere, which shows oxygen escape should no longer be described by a simple on/off switch but instead requires careful modelling.

• Speaker: Laura Harbach (Imperial)
• Tuesday 06 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Emily Sandford.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

The atmospheres of close-in exoplanets are extremely vulnerable to the effects of stellar UV to X-ray radiation. Photoevaporation can significantly alter planetary atmospheres or even strip them entirely, potentially rendering a planet uninhabitable. Understanding how these atmospheres evolve, persist, or fade away remains a fundamental challenge. In this talk, I will discuss two distinct but interconnected areas of photoevaporative research.

Firstly, I will discuss the interaction between the stellar wind and photoevaporating atmospheres. I will present 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the interaction between the stellar wind and the photoevaporating outflow of a planet orbiting an M dwarf. This analysis reveals a diverse range of magnetosphere morphologies and plasma distributions due to the wind-outflow interaction. I consider how these changing morphologies might impact observable hydrogen Lyman-alpha signatures during planetary transits.

In the second part, I will delve into our current understanding of photoevaporation from water-rich atmospheres. Conventional analytic approaches often oversimplify the process, assuming two scenarios: the escape of only lighter hydrogen, or the dragging of oxygen along with escaping hydrogen. These two scenarios lead to two end cases: a planet that has retained its water-rich atmosphere or a planet which has lost its atmosphere, becoming dry and desiccated. I will challenge these oversimplifications by presenting results from a novel 1D multifluid hydrodynamic model of photoevaporation from a water-rich atmosphere, which shows oxygen escape should no longer be described by a simple on/off switch but instead requires careful modelling.

• Speaker: Laura Harbach (Imperial)
• Tuesday 06 February 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + ONLINE - Details to be sent by email.
• Series: Exoplanet Seminars; organiser: Dr Emily Sandford.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Harry Bevins (KICC)
• Friday 17 May 2024, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Ryle seminar room + online.
• Series: Galaxies Discussion Group; organiser: Sandro Tacchella.

Add to your calendar or Include in your list

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 1 year in the first instance.

The Astrophysics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory has an on-going program designing, prototyping, and deploying state-of-the-art optical and near-infrared instrumentation for astronomers worldwide. These include ANDES, a high-resolution near-IR spectrograph for the European ELT; HARPS3, which will undertake an intensive search for Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer.

ANDES is a very large multiband instrument being designed and built by a large world-wide consortium for the European Extremely Large Telescope currently being built by ESO, the European Southern Observatory, and which will be sited in Chile. The UK is responsible for the near-IR spectrograph which will be assembled at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh. The Cavendish Laboratory is providing the large echelle grating and dichroic assemblies to be integrated in the spectrograph.

We are seeking a part-time instrument engineer/scientist for precision instrument design at Senior Research Associate level. The successful candidate will join our existing multi-disciplinary team to provide leadership and work-package management for the ANDES project. The aim of the role is to lead the current prototype testing and formal design of the mechanical, opto-mechanical, and vacuum assemblies including a large optical grating mosaic to operate at cryogenic temperature and which typically have micron- or sub-micron tolerances and stability. The post is an interim position funded at 0.4 FTE, i.e., two days per week. As work-package manager, the post holder will provide budgetary control and report progress and finance reports to the ANDES project manager at UKATC and to Oversight committees as appropriate.

The successful candidate must hold a PhD or have equivalent experience in a relevant scientific or engineering discipline. Candidates must have a proven track record in work-package management and experience of computer aided design, analysis, modelling and testing of precision opto-mechanics. In addition, candidates should have experience of precision measurement and data acquisition and analysis. Preference will be given to candidates with experience in one or more relevant areas including:

(a) Work-package management of large technical instrumentation; (b) design, alignment, and testing of opto-mechanical assemblies; (c) cryogenic instrument prototyping, testing, and commissioning; (d) liaison with vendors of mechanical/opto-mechanical hardware; (e) electronics and control instrumentation, data acquisition.

Candidates' experience in these areas should be demonstrated by publications in journals or proceedings of conferences sponsored by professional bodies.

The candidate will also have the ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team and be a good coordinator, managing their time across projects, and communicating results clearly verbally and in writing.

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

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 Professor Roberto Maiolino (rm665@cam.ac.uk). If you have any questions about the application process, please contact mott.hr@phy.cam.ac.uk.

Please quote reference KA40312 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.