The Observational Cosmology group of the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) and the Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ICE-CSIC)  is looking for candidates for one graduate student position to work on observational cosmology with large galaxy surveys. Our group is involved in Euclid, DES, PAU, DESI and Rubin-LSST. The successful candidate will work under the supervision of  F. Castander, P. Fosalba, E. Gaztañaga and/or M. Crocce in projects related to the preparation and exploitation of these surveys.

Euclid is a mission for the European Space Agency (ESA) to address fundamental physics and cosmology questions on the nature and properties of dark energy, dark matter and gravity. The satellite is expected to be launched in 2022. Our group is deeply involved in Euclid, where we lead and coordinate the Cosmological Simulations Working Group and the Simulations Organisation Unit of the Science Ground Segment.  We are also involved in other aspects of the mission and its scientific exploitation.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), at Kitt Peak in Arizona (USA), had its first light in March 2020 and will start its main science programme in the Spring of 2021. After participating in the construction and commissioning of the instrument, our group is now getting ready to exploit the unique science opportunities that the DESI spectroscopic survey will open.

The Physics of the Accelerating Universe (PAU) survey is a narrow band filter imaging survey being carried out with the PAUCam instrument at the WHT telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. PAUS is imaging fields where there is deep weak lensing data from other surveys which allow us to investigate the redshift distributions used in the analysis of weak lensing surveys and explore systematics like intrinsic alignments without selection biases. It also serves to study galaxy evolution.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a wide area survey of 5000 deg2 in the Southern Hemisphere. DES is a comprehensive survey that uses four probes to investigate dark energy (galaxy clustering, weak lensing, supernovae and clusters of galaxies). All the data in the DES survey have already been taken. DES is now in the process of analysing them. So far, DES has provided stringent cosmological parameters constraints and is leading developments in the combined analysis of different cosmological probes. 

The Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (Rubin-LSST) project will conduct a ten year broad band imaging survey over a wide area of the sky with multiple images. Rubin-LSST will deliver a 500 petabyte set of images and data products that will address some of the most pressing questions about the structure and evolution of the universe and the objects in it.

People interested in this PhD position should contact F. Castander (fjc@ice.csic.es) and/or P. Fosalba (fosalba@ice.csic.es) .