PhD in observational cosmology

The Observatory of Tartu University in Estonia invites applications for a PhD position in the field of observational cosmology. The successful applicant will apply and modify existing codes for classifying the environments of the large scale structure of the Universe. By applying the codes to EAGLE simulations, the PhD candidate will fine-tune the codes to optimally detect the accretion shock-heated gas at the interfaces of the clusters of galaxies and the filaments of the Cosmic Web.  The codes will be applied to spectroscopic galaxy data of Sloan Digital Sky Survey for understanding the large scale formation processes and the cosmological missing baryons problem. The locations of the hottest and densest baryons will be used for X-ray follow-up with the archival X-ray data (XMM-Newton and ROSAT) and for constructing finding maps for future instruments onboard ARCUS and ATHENA.

The position is initially for 1 year with a net salary of 1200 USD per month. It can be extended up to 4 years assuming that the student passes the annual evaluations. The net salary will raise to 1360 USD per month starting from the second year.

The successful applicant should have a background in astrophysics and also basic knowledge of Fortran, IDL, and Python is desirable. The candidate should hold a MSc. degree in physics, astronomy or a related field. Closing date for application is April 30, 2019. The interviews will be conducted during May 2019. Applicants should send a single PDF file containing a short resume, educational record, and a statement of research interests. Please, also arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent to Dr. Jukka Nevalainen. The starting date is Sep 1  2019.