2021-10-19 12:00

Ref0092 / Deadline: December 10th, 2021 (14:00 CET)

Cerrado/Closed

Offer description

The "Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón" (CEFCA) invites applications for one tenure track position of Researcher in Astrophysics and Cosmology.

CEFCA is a research institution located in Teruel, Spain, in charge of the operation, data management and scientific exploitation of the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ), an astronomical facility specifically suited for carrying out large astronomical surveys with very large field-of-view (FoV) telescopes: the 2.5m Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST250; 3deg diameter FoV) and the 83cm Javalambre Auxiliary Survey Telescope (JAST80; 2deg diameter FoV).

JST250 is equipped with JPCam, a ~1.2Mpix panoramic camera consisting of a mosaic of 14 CCDs of ~9.2k x 9.2kpix. The JPCam@JST250 system provides a 4.7 deg² FoV and hosts a complete new set of 54 filters of ~140A width, covering the whole optical spectral range plus two broader filters at the blue and red ends. The technical first-light of JPCam@JST250 was achieved in June 2020. During the next years, JPCam@JST250 will be mostly devoted to carry out the Javalambre Physics of the accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS), which will produce photo-spectra of hundreds of millions of astronomical objects with a wide range of applications in Astrophysics and Cosmology.

JAST80 is equipped with the panoramic camera T80Cam, hosting one CCD identical to those in JPCam. The T80Cam@JAST80 system provides an effective FoV of 2 deg². Since 2016, it is primarily devoted to conduct the Javalambre Photometric Local Universe Survey (J-PLUS), whose second data release, amounting ~2000deg² was public in November 2020.

The OAJ is a Spanish ICTS (Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure). As such, CEFCA offers 20% of OAJ Open Time to competitive P.I. projects. In addition, CEFCA is a leading node of the Ground Segment OU-EXT of the ESA Euclid mission, JPCam@JST250 will conduct the Javalambre-Euclid Deep Imaging Survey in g-band (JEDIS-g) in the next years.

The OAJ data is reduced, calibrated and released by the Unit for Data Processing and Archiving (UPAD) at CEFCA. In addition, the data from the main CEFCA surveys like J-PAS and J-PLUS is validated and exploited at scientific level by the researchers of the Research Division at CEFCA. The knowledge gathered in the last decade has highlighted the great importance of building value added catalogues (VACs) in modern astrophysical surveys. As an intermediate step between photometric catalogues and breaking scientific results, the estimation of high-level astrophysical parameters ensures an optimal analysis and a well controlled data flow. Because of the transversal nature of the OAJ surveys, the J-PLUS and J-PAS VACs aim to cover a broad range of Astrophysical topics, like moving objects of the Solar System, atmospheric parameters and variability of Milky Way stars, star formation and stellar populations of spatially resolved and distant galaxies, Supernovae detection and characterization, photometric redshifts, clusters and the environment of galaxies, the properties of accreting supermassive black holes along cosmic time, etc.

In this context, CEFCA is seeking one post-doctoral researcher in Astrophysics and Cosmology with an excellent research record in, preferably, the field of either resolved or unresolved galaxy stellar populations and interest/experience in massive data analysis. The successful candidate will join the Research Division at CEFCA to have a leading role in the scientific exploitation of the present and future OAJ surveys. As such, the awarded candidate will become a full member of the J-PLUS and J-PAS collaborations, having the right to become a Euclid member.

Duties

As members of the Research Department at CEFCA, the successful candidate will carry out the following duties:

• Scientific research in Astrophysics / Cosmology.
• Development of scientific codes to compute and validate VACs in the topic of galaxy stellar populations.
• Implementation of own and third-party codes in the UPAD pipelines.
• Scientific exploitation of the estimated VACs in the context of J-PLUS, J-PAS, JEDIS-g and future OAJ surveys.

As member of the Research Department at CEFCA, the successful candidate with teaching interests in Cosmology, Astrophysics or Astronomical Instrumentation may have the possibility to collaborate in the Master of Cosmology, Astrophysics, Particles and Astroparticles of the University of Zaragoza.

Valuable Knowledge and Experience

• Excellent research record in either resolved or unresolved galaxy stellar populations.
• Experience in the estimation of galaxy ages, metallicities, stellar masses, etc. from optical data, with special value to medium and narrow band photometry.
• Experience in the use and exploitation of large astronomical datasets.
• Experience in Python programming. Knowledge of programming in other languages like C, C++, or Fortran, will be an asset.
• Experience in the implementation of software in a structured environment, in particular in the use of control version software like Git.

Evaluation process

The committee, which will be constituted by several staff CEFCA members and by at least one scientist from an external institution, will first evaluate the suitability of the candidates on the basis of their CVs, research statements and reference letters. The best candidates will move to a short list for a final interview.

Being aware of the impact of family leaves (maternity, paternity, adoption, or leaves to take care of family members with serious health conditions) on scientific careers, properly justified family leaves will be taken into consideration during the evaluation process.

Terms and conditions