PhD Vacancy

PhD Vacancy: LISA stellar binary populations

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to work on the populations of binary stellar objects (white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes) that are LISA sources.

LISA is a European-led mission to detect gravitational waves (GW) in the mHz band from space. It is planned to be launched in 2035 and preparations for its science harvesting are ramping up. Among the different types of sources are stellar (compact) objects with periods below a few hours. Several thousand of these can be detected individually, mainly within the Milky Way, while the large number of unresolved sources form a collective signal. This signal has at least two components: a component from the Milky Way that is concentrated towards the Galactic center and an extragalactic isotropic signal referred to as astrophysical gravitational wave background. Nearby galaxies may form additional components.

We want to assess these populations both in the Milky Way and other galaxies in order to prepare for the science harvesting of the LISA data for our understanding of binary evolution. For this, we will simulate populations using theoretical population modelling. Where possible these populations will be compared to and calibrated with existing electro-magnetic and GW data. We often do this in the context of international collaborations such as the LISA consortium.

The project will take place in the stellar evolution group (Gijs Nelemans, Lieke van Son, Onno Pols) at the department of Astrophysics that is part of the Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The department is a lively group with many interactions and consists of 14 faculty, ~5-10 postdocs, ~15-20 PhD students and a technical group, the Radboud Radio Lab. Research activities include a number of world-leading efforts and focus on black holes, transients, cosmic-rays, gravitational waves, stellar and binary evolution, star clusters and the Milky Way and we foster interaction between the different groups.

Are you interested in the project, please consider applying. We are looking for someone with

• MSc in Astronomy or Physics.
• Strong interest in binary evolution and gravitational wave astrophysics.
• Excellent computational skills.
• Ability to work independently.
• Willingness to work in an international collaboration.