Post-Doctoral Position on Protoplanetary Disk Modeling and Carbon dust history

Duration: 24 months – Expected start: in the period october-november (-december) 2026.

We are seeking a highly motivated young post-doctoral researcher to join an international team investigating the structure, composition, and evolution of protoplanetary disks around young stars, in the frame of the ANR-funded CYPRESS (Carbon in Young PRE-planetary SystemS) project  The goal of the project is to constrain the dust radial and vertical structure, especially carbon dust particles, in a set of selected young stars, and derive their carbon/silicate abundance ratio across the different disk regions. Such ratios will be compared to the carbon/silicate radial gradient observed in our Solar System, where its inner part (including the Earth) appears to be carbon-depleted. That will provide crucial insights into the carbon depletion mechanisms and chemical evolution that may occur in the terrestrial planet-forming regions of disks and influence the future planet habitability.

The position will focus on the modeling and interpretation of observations already obtained with the infrared interferometric instrument of the VLTI, MATISSE,. It benefits from an outstanding angular resolution (a few  mas) and the access to various spectral signatures of carbon dust particles, to constrain the  geometry and abundances of carbon dust particles in the inner disk regions (~ 1 to 10 au). The researcher will make use of advanced analytical and radiative transfer modeling codes, combined with the THEMIS dust model, to explore different disk geometries and dust population properties.Additional constraints on larger scales and different wavelengths will be brought by other instruments (VLTI/GRAVITY, JWST, VLT/SPHERE, VLT/VISIR,VLT/NACO, ALMA).

Applicants should hold a PhD in astrophysics, computational physics, or a related discipline. Skills in dust emission modeling, numerical modeling, Python programming, are recommended. Familiarity with interferometric data analysis or infrared astronomy would be required. Experience with radiative transfer codes and machine learning techniques would be appreciated.

The following activities will take place:

• Reduction and calibration of newly acquired MATISSE data using the existing pipeline,
• preparation of observing proposals to consolidate the existing datasets and check for inner disk structure variability,
• Modeling of the interferometric data (MATISSE, GRAVITY, PIONIER) using the Oimodeler tool (https://oimodeler.readthedocs.io/en/latest/models.html) to constrain the properties of the inner disk regions.
• Use of dust opacities to determine the chemical compositions and for testing the different hypothesis related to dust composition and size distribution,
• Pre-radiative transfer modeling to check for physical consistency of the Oimodeler models.
• Publications based on the Oimodeler and pre-radiative transfer models, and which will prepare full radiative transfer modeling.
• Web communication support for the CYPRESS project.

The successful candidate will work primarily at the J.-L. Lagrange Laboreatory of OCA in a dynamic research environment, with close collaborations with the CEA and the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Paris-Saclay University, the Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique of Grenoble and the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL). Collaboration with experts from the Institut de Recherche en Astronomie et Planétologie de Toulouse (IRAP) and the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) will be involved.
English is the working language; knowledge of French is welcome but not required.
 

Join us to explore how dust, chemistry, and radiation prepare the birthplaces of habitable telluric planets !