The "Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón" (CEFCA) invites applications for a postdoctoral position starting as soon as possible. The position, with a duration of at least 2 years, is conceived within the framework of the "Knowledge Generation Projects 2022" project PID2022-138896NA-C54 titled "ARRAKIHS: First phase of the next mission of the European Space Agency".

ARRAKIHS (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys) was recently approved as the next European Space Agency (ESA) F-class mission (F is for "fast"; https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/call-for-missions-2021/selection-of-f2). It is the first ESA mission to be led by Spain and is planned for launch around 2030. ARRAKIHS will observe ~100 Milky Way-like galaxies in the optical and infrared, reaching unprecedented low surface brightness limits (~31 mag/arcsec2) for such a large sample, with the objective of unveiling the nature of dark matter and to deepen our knowledge of galaxy formation processes through deep observations.

The applicant will conduct research related to the mission ARRAKIHS, in particular, processing and analysing mock ARRAKIHS images from high-resolution simulations in order to 1) optimise algorithms for the detection of tidal features such as streams and shells 2) quantify and characterise these features around galaxies 3) identify observables useful for distinguishing between different cosmological scenarios. The tasks will be developed with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques (e.g., segmentation models), astronomical image software (e.g., Gnuastro, Sextractor), as well as statistical analysis, with the objective of being prepared for ARRAKIHS launch.

For further information, please contact:

Helena Domínguez Sánchez – hdominguez@cefca.es