INSTITUTION: Institute of Low Temperature and Structural Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences
POSITION: PhD student – scholarship holder in the NCN research project
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE: Physical Sciences
DATE OF ANNOUNCEMENT: 19.12.2022
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 18.01.2023
DATE OF COMPETITION SETTLEMENT: 27.01.2023
DATE OF COMMENCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT: 1.02.2023
LINK TO WSD IPAN WEBSITE: http://wsdipan.intibs.pl
LINK TO INTiBS PAN WEBSITE: http://intibs.pl
KEY WORDS: strongly interacting systems, optical lattices, Bose-Einstein condensation 

Competition Announcement

Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences (WDS IPAS) announces a special recruitment for a PhD student – scholarship holder in the research project: "Influence of gauge potentials and topology on phase transitions of bosons in optical lattice ", carried out on behalf of the National Science Center (grant no. 2020/39/O/ST3/01148) in the Division of Condensed Matter Theory of the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw.

Recruitment is conducted in accordance with the Rules of Recruitment to the Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences for the academic year 2022/23 (https://www.intibs.pl/goto/WDS_recruitment_2022-23) and the Regulations of Awarding Funds for the Implementation of Tasks Financed by the National Science Center (NCN) in the Area of Research Projects, adopted by the Resolution of the Council of the National Science Center No. 12/2021 of March 5, 2021. The deadline for submission of documents is January 18, 2023.

Requirements for the candidate

In addition to meeting the requirements for admission to the Wroclaw School of Doctoral Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a candidate should:

  • Have a master's degree in physics (or related),
  • Have interest in theoretical physics and be prepared to perform tasks in the project (knowledge of solid state physics, statistical thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, etc.),
  • Be able to enroll to the WDS IPAS and participate in the project beginning February 1, 2023 (in case of the need to delay the start of education on the part of the candidate, the approval of the funding organization will be necessary).

Preference will be given to candidates with a scientific record in the form of publications.

Doctoral Student Responsibilities

The doctoral student will be required to:

  • implement, during the period of performing tasks in the project, the educational program in the doctoral school, completed by the obtaining a doctoral degree, at the latest within 12 months after the end of the project (planned duration of the project - 4 years),
  • implement an individual research plan, consistent with the research project,
  • apply for funding for a foreign internship, lasting from 3 to 6 months in a foreign scientific center selected by the Project Manager, in the competition held by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) under the conditions specified in Annex No. 1 to the Agreement on Cooperation between NAWA and NCN of September 12, 2019, and, after obtaining its funding, realizing this internship during the project.

Scholarship

A doctoral student will receive a doctoral scholarship from the funds of the National Science Centre on the basis of the Act of 20 July 2018. Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1668, as amended) and on the basis of the Regulations for the allocation of funds for the implementation of tasks financed by the National Science Centre in the field of research projects.

The PRELUDIUM BIS doctoral scholarship will be paid a maximum of 4 years in the monthly amount of:

  • 5000 PLN (the amount will be reduced by the cost of mandatory social security contributions, etc., about 24%) until the month in which the doctoral student's mid-term evaluation at the doctoral school was conducted,
  • 6000 PLN (the amount will be reduced by the cost of mandatory social security contributions, etc., about 24%) after the month in which the student's mid-term evaluation at doctoral school was conducted.

The doctoral scholarship will be paid after deduction of all components, in accordance with the applicable regulations. In particular, the funds allocated for the doctoral scholarship by the established regulations will cover the costs of compulsory social insurance and - upon request - the costs of sickness insurance.

Joining the competition

Candidates wishing to enter the competition should submit all documents specified in the Rules of Recruitment to the Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences for the academic year 2022/23: https://www.intibs.pl/goto/WDS_recruitment_2022-23.

Candidates' applications for admission to the School must be submitted by January 18, 2023:

  1. in person at the School’s Secretariat Office at the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 2 Okólna St. in Wrocław, from 9 am to 3 pm

or

  1. by registered mail or courier (the date on which the Secretariat Office received the documents is considered to be the delivery date) to the following address: WSD IPAN, ul. Okólna 2, 50-422 Wrocław

or

  1. by email to the address ; however, the original documents should be delivered before the studies start (a failure to meet this requirement will result in the candidate’s name being removed from the list of doctoral students).

Description of the research project and the PhD thesis

The research and dissertation will be carried out within the framework of the research project: “Influence of gauge potentials and topology on phase transitions of bosons in optical lattice " (No 2020/39/O/ST3/01148) carried out under the contract awarded by the National Science Center.

Optical lattices, which are recently of great interest to researchers, are periodic structures formed from the intersection of counter-propagating laser beams. They allow for trapping of atoms cooled to very low temperatures and observation of quantum phenomena characteristic for the solid state physics (hence the name "quantum simulators").

The PhD student's task will be to theoretically analyze the properties of ultracold bosons in an optical lattice. The doctoral student will begin his work by familiarizing himself with simple models describing the behavior of solids and mastering the methods of statistical thermodynamics. Then, expanding his research workshop, he/she will move on to more complicated models and techniques and the use of appropriate approximations. As a result, he/she will learn to determine the properties of the Bose-Hubbard model using advanced methods of quantum field theory and will be prepared to conduct research in the project.

The dissertation will be devoted to the analysis of various properties of the Bose-Hubbard model, e.g., excitations of quasiparticles in bands with trivial and non-trivial topology, transport properties in geometry-constrained lattices in the presence of gauge potentials, or the role of dissipation in the formation and nature of ordered states.

Participation in the project includes a 5-month research internship at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Technical University Berlin, for which the PhD student will be eligible for NAWA funding.

Additional information

For additional information, please contact the project manager, Dr. Hab. Tomasz Zaleski (, tel. +48 71 395 4316).

Personal information

Candidates' personal data are collected and processed by the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław in accordance with the information on personal data processing available at https://bip.intibs.pl/artykuly/173/rodo.