Experimental particle physics - ATLAS - Postdoc at NIKHEF, Amsterdam

The Nikhef ATLAS group has an opening for a
 

 

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. Among the research collaborations Nikhef participates in are 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 and the Pierre Auger cosmic rays observatory in Argentina. Nikhef also hosts well staffed theoretical physics and detector R&D groups. Nikhef itself is a collaboration between 5 major Dutch universities and the Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM).
 

The Nikhef ATLAS group consists of groups in Amsterdam and Nijmegen, for a total of 17 staff, and typically 5 postdocs and 15 PhD students. We have constructed part of the semiconductor tracker (SCT), part of the barrel muon chambers, and elements of muon chamber readout, alignment, slow control, trigger and data acquisition.  Our group has responsibilities in trigger and muon reconstruction software and we have been active in several analyses in Higgs, SUSY, exotic and top physics.
 

We are looking for a candidate to take a leading role in Higgs coupling fits using ATLAS Run-2 data. The candidate will work as part of a core team consisting of one senior scientist (dr Wouter Verkerke), a software engineer from the Dutch National eScience Center, and a PhD student to design and develop future coupling fits. The eScience engineer in the team will focus on delivering performance improvements through optimisation and parallelisation of the RooFit core software. The role of the candidate is to participate in the development of new physics models for future coupling fits (e.g. Effective Lagrangian Models) and to realise measurements of Higgs coupling properties on Run-2 data using these new models, and on the other hand to test and incorporate performance improvements developed by the eScience engineer for these realistic physics scenarios.

 

The position as postdoctoral researcher requires a PhD in Physics, candidates who are close to finishing their PhD thesis are also encouraged to apply. Extensive experience in both data analysis and software development for particle physics experiments is required. Familiarity with RooFit, RooStats, OO design and programming in C++, Higgs physics and Effective Field Theory are assets. The candidate is expected to have good communication skills and be able to work in an international team. 
 

The position is for two to three years. The candidate will be employed by the FOM-foundation and will obtain the status of postdoctoral researcher. You will receive a competitive salary. Frequent travel to CERN and/or a stay at CERN are possible. The conditions of employment are excellent and include extra months' salary payment in May and December and good travel facilities. The conditions of employment of the FOM-foundation can be found at www.fom.nl.

https://ssl1.peoplexs.com/Peoplexs22/CandidatesPortalNoLogin/Vacancy.cfm?PortalID=13649&VacatureID=845285

Further information on this position can be obtained from dr. Wouter Verkerke (verkerke@nikhef.nl).  

The opening closes on Friday the 9th of September  2016.