Dear all,
sorry for the cross posting.
We are hiring an ANR funded
postdoctoral research assistant at INRIA in Nice, France, to work on
optimal control and nonlinear stability of MHD flows
(more details below).
The postdoc will join the Laboratoire
J.A. Dieudonné, located in Parc Valrose (Université Nice
Sophia-Antipolis) on the French Riviera. The campus is in
the city-center, at walking distance from the sea and
short driving distance from the mountains.
Please share this with any recent PhD or
postdoc who might be interested.
Best wishes,
Florence
*********************
The considerable diversity of long-lived
magnetic fields observed in the Universe raises
fundamental questions regarding their origin. Although it
is now widely accepted that such fields are sustained by a
dynamo instability in the electrically conducting fluid
layers of celestial bodies, understanding the conditions
of nonlinear excitation and saturation of a dynamo
instability in a swirling MHD flow remains an important
challenge for the modeling of astrophysical magnetic
fields.
The project aims at developing the
numerical tools required to achieve fully nonlinear
optimal control of MHD flows. These tools will be used to
identify "minimal dynamo seeds" in simple swirling flows
relevant to stellar systems, i.e. challenge the stability
of such flows with respect to initial magnetic fields of
arbitrary amplitude and structure. Furthermore, nonlinear
optimisation will be used as a physical diagnostic to gain
novel understanding of the mechanisms that are most
favorable to dynamo action in astrophysical systems.
Original ideas and suggestions from the postdoctoral
researcher will be encouraged.
The position requires a PhD in applied
maths, fluid mechanics or related field, and is available
from September, 1st. Funding is already secured for two
years (one-year position renewable once). Applications
will be accepted until the position is filled, preferably
before July, 10th.
Florence Marcotte
Junior researcher at INRIA Sophia
Antipolis
Laboratoire J.A. Dieudonné, Université Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Parc Valrose,
06108 Nice, France
+33 4 89 15 05
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