Researcher in Astrophysics with focus on evolved stars

Published: 2023-11-08

Are you interested in working with astrophysics, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a researcher in astrophysics position at Uppsala University.

The research conducted at the Department of Physics and Astronomy encompasses a wide range of physics topics, distributed over ten divisions. Research in astronomy and astrophysics within the Division of Astronomy and Space Physics places particular emphasis on combining state-of-the-art instrumentation and observations with advanced physics-based modelling from first principles. The division has a broad teaching activity at the undergraduate and graduate level, participates in leading national and international research projects including the space missions Plato and Gaia, has access to observational and computing infrastructures, and is active in public outreach activities. For more information, please visit www.astro.uu.se.

Project description
Evolved stars play a crucial role for the cosmic matter cycle and the origin of life. Critical chemical elements, like carbon, are produced inside luminous cool giant stars, transported to the surface by turbulent gas flows, and ejected into interstellar space by massive outflows of gas and dust. The current knowledge of stellar winds is incomplete, and does not allow us to fully understand their effects on the evolution of stars, and how they enrich their surroundings with newly produced elements and cosmic dust. Project EXWINGS (https://www.astro.uu.se/exwings), funded by the European Research Council with an ERC Advanced Grant, aims at a breakthrough in understanding the winds of cool giant and supergiant stars. Recently, we have developed a new type of models: global dynamical star-and-wind-in-a-box simulations, in full 3D geometry. Astronomical instruments with high spatial resolution, which give images and spectra of the stellar atmospheres where the winds originate, allow us to test the new models.

Duties
The researcher will be a member of the EXWINGS team, and work together with Susanne Höfner, Bernd Freytag, and other team members on studying the effects of stellar pulsation and convection on physical phenomena (shocks, dust formation, emergence of complex structures) in the extended atmosphere, where the stellar wind has its origin. Comparing new dynamic models for Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) and red supergiant (RSG) stars to state-of-the-art observations (in particular new high-angular-resolution data probing the stellar atmosphere and circumstellar envelope), the mechanisms which drive their winds will be explored.

Requirements
To qualify for an employment as a researcher you must have a PhD degree or a foreign degree equivalent to a PhD degree in Astronomy or Physics. Furthermore, candidates should be fluent in English and have the capacity to work both independently and in collaboration with the team. 

Additional qualifications
Practical experience with simulations of radiative transfer in stellar atmospheres and winds, linking their morphology to observable properties, or with relevant observational techniques (in particular interferometry at infrared and sub-mm wavelengths) applied to AGB and RSG stars, will be considered a merit.

Applications should include a brief description of research interests and relevant experience, CV, certificates and diplomas, and contact details for at least one reference person. 

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position, 12 months. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2024-02-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Susanne Höfner (susanne.hoefner@physics.uu.se), Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics.

Please submit your application by 12 December 2023, UFV-PA 2023/4120.

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