Postdoctoral Fellow in Primordial Magnetic Field Evolution

The candidate will work on the end-to-end modelling of magnetic field evolution from the early Universe to the present epoch. In particular, one postdoc will focus on the early Universe dynamics and the other on the dynamics during the recombination era. This is part of a joint effort within the ERC Synergy Grant COSMOMAG with Andrii Neronov (APC and Lausanne), Chiara Caprini (CERN and CNRS), and Franco Vazza (U Bologna). Frequent visits between the nodes of COSMOMAG are to be envisaged for discussions and joint coordination of the work.

The COSMOMAG project aims at pinning down the origin of cosmological magnetic fields by developing a unified framework tackling the problem from the initial conditions in the early universe up to observations in the present universe: we will study the magnetic field generation in the early universe, use numerical methods to evolve them throughout the universe and predict observable signatures today, to be tested mainly via gamma-ray, radio and gravitational waves observations.

The project consists of understanding the evolution of primordial magnetic fields before Recombination. The phenomenology of magnetic fields decay is still debated, and to firmly establish the correct decay laws, numerical simulations are essential. In this context, we will mainly use the Pencil Code to simulate the magnetic field evolution from generation to Recombination, complemented with analytical understanding to interpret the simulation results.

The project will address a number of topics including:

    * the generation of magnetic fields in the early universe at the end of inflation and during the electroweak and QCD phase transitions
    * the magnetic field evolution through the epoch of recombination

The successful candidate will work with Professor Axel Brandenburg at Nordita with the possibility of close collaborations with Professors Chiara Caprini, Andrii Neronov, and Franco Vazza. There will also be regular virtual and in-person meetings with other members of the synergy project, as well as members of the astrophysics group at Nordita.