Description. The research associate will start ideally in Autumn 2023. The muon collider collaboration was formed a few years ago and is currently preparing a Design Study to give extensive feedback for the next European Strategy for Particle Physics Update in 2026.

In this context, the Particle Physics Department (DPhP) of CEA Saclay, IRFU (France) and the INFN Trieste (Italy) are involved in machine detector interface (MDI) studies, as well as in physics and performance simulation studies.

The successful applicant will take a leading role in the topics of interest to both research teams. The plan is to determine the HH→bb tautau achievable significance in a future muon collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 10 TeV. The HH process is expected to be one of the major topics in a future muon collider as it gives access to the Higgs self-coupling. It will be important to include beam-induced background to the full simulation, such that realistic running conditions are taken into account. Tau and b-jet performance will also be useful to study the final state of interest, and the optimisation of detector technologies could also be an interesting approach.

The position is 1+1 years, ideally starting in CEA Saclay and continuing in INFN Trieste. Some flexibility is possible. The CEA Saclay/IRFU/DPhP muon collider group is forming and is mostly composed of researchers with expertise in high energy physics experiments such as ATLAS and CMS. Experts in electroweak and Higgs physics, as well as jet performance at the LHC will apply their knowledge to a muon collider experiment and provide their guidance to the studies. There is also synergy with the CEA Saclay Accelerator Department.

The INFN Trieste group consists of researchers working on data analysis and detector R&D in the CMS experiment. For the past five years they have also been engaged in muon collider studies with a full detector simulation, focusing on the reconstruction of physical objects such as muons, electrons and photons in the presence of the beam-induced background and the sensitivity estimation for the H→µµ channel at a 3 TeV muon collider. 

Note : there is the possibility of extending the position by one year to work in the CMS experiment.

How to apply. Candidates should send a CV, a brief statement of research interests and arrange to have at least three letters of reference sent to Fabrice Balli (fabrice.balli@cern.ch), Gautier Hamel de Montchenault (gautier.Hamel.de.Monchenault@cern.ch), Federico Ferri (Federico.Ferri@cern.ch) and Massimo Casarsa (massimo.casarsa@ts.infn.it).

Starting date. The position can start as soon as the candidate is successful. 

Deadline. Applications received by February 15th, 2023 will receive full consideration. The call will remain open until filled.