Experimental Particle Physics - Student at Nikhef

The Nikhef ATLAS group has an opening for

4 PhD students in experimental particle physics - ATLAS

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 five major Dutch universities, including the University of Amsterdam, and the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO-I).

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.

The PhD positions

1. The Higgs boson width (1 PhD student) The goal of this project is to perform an indirect measurement of the width of the Higgs boson by studying the high-mass production of 4 leptons in Run2 of the LHC. This is an experimental project with a strong theoretical component. Supervisors: dr. Hella Snoek, dr. Wouter Waalewijn, and dr. Ivo van Vulpen
2. Associated Higgs boson production decaying to heavy flavours (1 PhD position) The goal of this project is to probe the Yukawa couplings if the Higgs boson to heavy quarks. In this project Higgs boson production in association with a Z/W boson will be studied where the Higgs boson will decay to either a pair of b-quarks or charm quarks. Supervisor: dr Tristan du Pree  with additional support from a Postdoc
3. Boosted Higgs boson production (1 PhD position) The goal of this project is to probe Higgs boson production at very high momentum transfer, which provide special sensitivity to possible effects of new Physics. In this project Higgs boson production is studied in collisions with an extremely energetic initial state radiation jet, where the Higgs boson decays in to a strongly boosted jet containing two b-quarks. Supervisor: dr Tristan du Pree with additional support from a Postdoc
4. Higgs boson coupling properties with a focus on Higgs decaying to muons (1 PhD position). The goal of this proposal is to probe the strength and tensor structure of Higgs couplings to other particles using a novel Effective Field Theory inspired methodology. In a second phase the not-yet-observed Higgs decays to muons, which are expected to come in reach in 2-3 years, will be included this analysis. This is an ambitious and challenging project that is particularly suitable for a candidate with a good theory background and good programming skills. Supervisor: prof. dr. Wouter Verkerke with additional support from a Postdoc and scientific programmer working on the same project.

At Nikhef you will be embedded in a strong team of Higgs physics analyses specialists with a broad range of expertise and a strong analysis track record in the ATLAS collaboration. Part of the PhD work is an ATLAS authorship qualification task that will be chosen taking into account both the responsibilities of the institute as well as the interests and capabilities of the candidate.

Requirements

We are looking for a candidate with a (almost) completed master degree in high-energy physics, or a closely related field. The ideal candidate has interest in data analysis, has software skills, has some research experience in experimental particle physics. The candidate is expected to start in the fall of 2017, with a preference for September 2017.

Offer

The position is offered for 4 years. The candidate will be employed by the University of Amsterdam (PhD-1), or the Dutch Foundation for scientific research NWO-I (PhD-2,3,4) and based at Nikhef in Amsterdam. All positions foresee a one year stay at CERN. You will receive a competitive salary, and an additional net allowance during your stay at CERN. 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 University of Amsterdam and the NWO-I-foundation can be found at http://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-uva/working-at-the-uva/terms-of-employment and www.fom.nl respectively. The educational program of the Dutch research school for subatomic physics offers annual graduate schools for PhD students, as well as frequent series of lectures on advanced topics in particle physics.

Information and Application
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply by going to the web page http://www.nikhef.nl/en/vacancies, select the vacancy '4 PhD students in experimental particle physics - ATLAS', and click on the 'apply now' button at the bottom of the page, before the end of Friday May 5. Please be prepared to upload a curriculum vitae including a brief description of your research interests, and have the email addresses of at least two referents ready, who are willing to send a letter of recommendation on your behalf. Letters should arrive by the end of Monday May 8 for full consideration. If you have interest in a specific subset of these positions, please indicate this in your application. Our aim to select candidates for an interview in mid May and hold interview with selected candidates in late May / early June

Further information on this positions can be obtained from Prof. Dr. Wouter Verkerke (verkerke@nikhef.nl, general information and position #4), dr. Tristan du Pree (tdupree@nikhef.nl, positions #2,3), dr Hella Snoek (hsnoek@nikhef.nl) or dr. Ivo van Vulpen (ivov@nikhef.nl) for position #1.