[obsdoc] [Fwd: PhD position]

[Réza Samadi <Reza.Samadi@obspm.fr>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: PhD position
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:00:19 -0300
From: Audrey Delsanti <adelsant@eso.org>
Organization: European Southern Observatory
To: Commission.Jeunes-Chercheurs@obspm.fr

Please, forward this mail to anyone you think might be interested. 

Amities,
Audrey Delsanti


----------------------

Doctoral Position in Submm Astronomy 
------------------------------------

Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum 
Lehrstuhl fuer Astrophysik
Universitaetsstr. 150
D-44780 Bochum
Germany 
Phone: +49-(0)234 / 322-8673
Fax:   +49-(0)234 / 3214-412
Email: albrecht@astro.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Attention: Dr. Marcus Albrecht

The Department of Astrophysics (Director: Prof. Dr. Rolf Chini) at the 
Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany, (AIRUB) invites applications for a 
doctoral position.

The doctoral student is invited to participate in the software 
development and maintenance of the reduction and analysis package BoA 
for the large sub-millimeter bolometer array camera (LaBoCa) and its 
astronomical application.   
LaBoCa is the main continuum receiver for the Atacama Pathfinder 
Experiment (APEX) 12m Telescope, which is expected to start operation on 
the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes by mid 2003. This 
300-element bolometer camera is operational at 300 mK and sensitive in 
the 870 micron atmospheric window. The new array will use 
superconducting detectors (transition edge sensors) and amplifiers 
(SQUIDs), which is new to astronomical bolometers. This technologically 
challenging system is being built by the Max-Planck Institut fuer 
Radioastronomie in Bonn in collaboration with the Institute for Physical 
High-Technology in Jena.

Funding was granted by the German Ministry of Education and Research 
(BMBF) to develop a highly sophisticated software package for the data 
reduction and analysis. 
The student's work shall focus in the first year on the modeling and 
development of the software including algorithms for the reduction and 
analysis of multi-beam data, image processing and database integration.
In the following years the participation in observations is expected.  

Major astronomical objectives of bolometer observations with LaBoCa will 
be the study of the structure and star formation in the early and local 
universe, exploration of the southern hemisphere sub-millimeter sky and 
investigations of cluster physics and cosmological models. At 
sub-millimeter wavelengths APEX will have a better spatial resolution 
than space or balloon borne instruments, by virtue of the larger dish 
size. Additionally, it will serve as a pathfinder for ALMA in all of its 
wavelength ranges.

The topic of the PhD thesis might alternatively focus on sky-noise 
suppression and image restoration in multi-beam arrays from a technical 
point of view. 
In addition, an astrophysical subject should be investigated.
 
Applicants should have interest in sub-millimeter astronomy and some 
experience in software development. The willingness to learn the unified 
modeling language (UML) and a corresponding development tool (Rational 
Rose), a modern scripting language and an object-oriented language (C++) 
is expected. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to spend 
several weeks per year at the APEX site near San Pedro de Atacama in the 
Chilean Andes, partly to perform her/his own research projects. 

The appointment will be for up to three years. The start date for the 
position is flexible. A salary will be given according to the German 
Public Service Tarifs (BAT II/2). The Ruhr-Universitaet is an equal 
opportunity employer. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to 
apply. 

Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, bibliography and a summary 
of their research interests and arrange for two letters of 
recommendation. 
Deadline for the submission is 31 December 2002. Informal inquiries are 
welcome.

Links:
------ 

AIRUB:  http://www.astro.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
APEX:   http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/mm/apex.html
ALMA:   http://www.eso.org/projects/alma/
LaBoCa: http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/bolometer/#laboca
BoA:    http://www.openboa.de

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