Nikhef, the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands, is looking for a
PhD student in experimental particle physics (Neutrino Physics)
The Nikhef organisation Nikhef is the national institute for subatomic physics in The Netherlands. At Nikhef, approximately 175 physicists and 75 technical staff members work together in an open and international scientific environment. Together, they perform theoretical and experimental research in the fields of particle and astroparticle physics. The Nikhef institute is a collaboration between six major Dutch universities and the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Nikhef participates in large research collaborations, including the ATLAS, LHCb and ALICE experiments at CERN, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean, the VIRGO interferometer in Pisa, the Xenon1T dark matter experiment in Gran Sasso, the Pierre Auger cosmic ray observatory in Argentina and the eEDM research programme in Groningen. Nikhef also hosts a group in theoretical physics, and groups for Physics Data Processing and detector R&D, all with good connections to the experimental programs.
The position The KM3NeT Collaboration is constructing a neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. Arrays of light-sensitive elements record the Cherenkov light produced by fast travelling charged particles in the sea water, these particles could originate from interactions of neutrinos. The energy and direction of the original neutrinos can be reconstructed from the amount of Cherenkov photons and their time-of-arrival in the detectors. The densely-instrumented KM3NeT/ORCA building block will focus on the measurement of neutrino oscillations, whereas the sparsely-instrumented KM3NeT/ARCA block will measure cosmic neutrinos and search for their sources. Both building blocks play complementary roles in the detection of a possible neutrino flux from dark matter annihilation.
The KM3NeT group at Nikhef has an opening for a PhD student. The successful candidate will work on the reconstruction of neutrino events in the detector, with focus on the optimization of the detection of neutrinos from dark matter annihilation. The results will be applied to the data of the first KM3NeT detection units. The candidate will work with experimental and theoretical physicists in the context of the NWO programme "The Hidden Universe of Weakly Interacting Particles". The candidate is also expected to help in the construction of further detector elements at Nikhef.
Further information on this position can be obtained from prof.dr. Paul de Jong,
paul.de.jong_AT_nikhef.nl