Applications are invited for postdoctoral and doctoral positions in theoretical physics in the Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS, Orsay – France).
The positions are funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the project LoCoMacro (Local Control of Macroscopic Properties in Isolated Many-body Quantum Systems), presented by Maurizio Fagotti in the 2018 call for ERC starting grants.
The research project is focused on the study of the effects of inhomogeneities in out-of-equilibrium systems following a so-called global quench. This is the nonequilibrium time evolution of states with energy extensively higher than the ground state one, for which time evolution generally results in an emergent statistical description. A distinctive feature of LoCoMacro is the interest in the global effects of inhomogeneities localized in a small part of the system. The project covers both exactly solvable models, which are primarily attacked with analytical methods, and generic systems, for which numerical investigations are more suitable. The group of research will have heterogeneous skills, and knowledge exchange will be a key aspect of the activity.
The successful candidates will work with Maurizio Fagotti and will benefit from the stimulating research environment of LPTMS, which is a young theoretical physics laboratory, markedly oriented towards statistical physics. Being a joint research unit between CNRS and Paris-Sud University, the laboratory has access to computing facilities such us the Paris-Sud “computing mesocenter”, and, for large scale computations, national facilities such as IDRIS.
Paris-Sud University is internationally recognised for the quality of fundamental research (mathematics, physics); in 2020, Paris-Saclay University rose to 9th place in the world in the Shanghai ranking 2020 of the world universities in the subject of Physics.
The candidates should be interested in the physics of low-dimensional systems out of equilibrium, and they should have a good knowledge of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics.
- If interested in analytical investigations, the candidates for the postdoctoral positions are expected to have a basic knowledge of some analytic techniques to deal with many-body quantum systems in 1D; a background in quantum integrable systems is a plus.
- If interested in numerical investigations, the candidates for the postdoctoral positions are expected be familiar with numerical methods to investigate time evolution in 1D many-body quantum systems (especially, tensor network techniques); the ideal candidate is an independent researcher who is willing to improve the existent methods and possibly develop new techniques to efficiently attack out-of-equilibrium problems without translational invariance.
The postdoctoral positions are available for two years, with possible extensions.
Salary will follow the standard regulations of the CNRS and will depend on experience.
The doctoral positions are available for three years. The gross salary is 2135 € per month.
In addition to the salary, a generous support for travels is provided.
Applicants for the postdoctoral positions should provide a CV, a concise motivation letter, and a list of publications, including a selection of two or three publications where the relevance of the work is discussed and the contribution of the applicant is highlighted. The applicants should also arrange for two or more recommendation letters.
Applicants for the doctoral positions should provide a CV, a concise motivation letter, and a list of the master exam marks. The applicants should also arrange for one or more recommendation letters.
All applications must transit via the CNRS portal.
The application is open until the positions are filled; the interested candidates are invited to apply as soon as possible.
The postdoctoral positions are not yet filled
The doctoral position has been filled