Missions

The Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work within the research group of Guilhem Lavaux, funded by the Simons "Learning the Universe" collaboration. The researcher will work on projects at the intersection of artificial intelligence and numerical simulations.

Activities

The evolution of our universe is determined by its initial conditions and the physical laws that govern it. However, neither of these two quantities is directly available. The postdoctoral researcher will work on elements of the development of a Bayesian inference based on a simulation approach, for which we repeatedly sample a set of initial conditions and predict the observational consequences of these choices. The postdoctoral researcher will therefore work within the group of G. Lavaux, in close collaboration with the members of the Learning the Universe project and the Aquila consortium, spread across various institutes and universities (http://www.learning-the-universe.org/, https://www.aquila-consortium.org).

Skills

Candidates with past experience in the analysis of data from large cosmological surveys, strong skills in computational, theoretical, or statistical cosmology, as well as in the field of artificial intelligence, will receive the greatest attention from the selection committee. More generally, candidates with an excellent record and recognized achievements in cosmology are also welcome.

Work Context

The initial duration of the postdoctoral contract will be 1 year. An extension of the contract to 2 years is possible, contingent upon the availability of resources. The contract can begin as early as autumn 2024. The salary is determined by the CNRS salary scale, which considers the candidate's experience. The postdoctoral researcher will have funds to finance travel within the "Learning the Universe" collaboration and will be encouraged to present their work at international conferences. The Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris is located in the centre of Paris. It is one of the leading laboratories in cosmology and astrophysics, with over 60 permanent researchers and 150 members. The research group "large structures and deep universe," of which G. Lavaux is a part, consists of about twenty permanent researchers focusing on the cosmological analysis of cosmic microwave background data, galaxy surveys (particularly Euclid), and the measurement of gravitational lensing effects. More broadly, the laboratory's research themes cover a wide range of major questions in modern cosmology, from galaxy formation to gravitational wave astrophysics and models of the primordial universe. The postdoctoral researcher will have access to high-performance computing resources such as the Horizon/Infinity cluster (~4000 cores) or the Hénon GPU cluster hosted at the laboratory.

Constraints and risks

Candidates must submit an application package consisting of a CV of no more than 2 pages, a list of publications, and a document of no more than 2 pages describing their past activities and research projects. Benefits include French national health insurance, parental leave, meal subsidies, family allowances for children, transportation allowances, and retirement contributions. Schooling is free in France for all children over the age of 3. Additionally, the IAP/CNRS and the Cité Universitaire de Paris provide support for settling in Paris, and the CNRS offers free French lessons.