*** PhD Position on Astrophysics - Granada, Spain ***

The Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, based in Granada, Spain 
(IAA-CSIC, http://www.iaa.es/) offers one four-year PhD fellowship within 
the frame of the project "Studies using the VLBI technique: Active 
Galactic Nuclei and radio supernovae". Drs. Antxon Alberdi (antxon@iaa.es) 
and Miguel A. Perez-Torres (torres@iaa.es) will both be advisors of the 
fellow.

The main goal of the thesis project is the determination of the dominant 
dust heating mechanism (AGN, starburst, or both) in the nuclear and 
circumnuclear regions of a sample of nearby (20< D/Mpc < 350), Luminous 
Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs), in the range of L_fir ~7E10 to 2E12 L_solar. 
The project will make extensive use of multi-wavelength, high- resolution, 
radio interferometric observations taken with the VLA, MERLIN, and the EVN 
arrays. The existing observing campaigns should allow the detection of 
radio supernovae, aimed at directly determining the star-formation of 
massive stars in the galaxies of the sample. The results of the thesis 
project will also serve as a basis to extend those studies to the lower 
end of Far InfraRed luminosities, thanks to the upcoming high-sensitivity 
arrays, like the e-VLA and e-MERLIN.

Our research group keeps regular collaborations with other international 
centres. In addition, the IAA-CSIC offers an excellent research 
atmosphere, with more than 80 researchers (staff, postdocs, and graduate 
students). The selected candidate is also encouraged to initiate 
collaborations with other members of the Institute that might complement 
and enrich his/her research.

The gross salary of the fellowship will be around 1200 EUR/month for the 
first two years, while the last two years will be of about 1300 EUR/month, 
subject to tax and Social Security deductions. Medical insurance under the 
Spanish Health Service is provided. Granada is a relatively cheap city, 
and the main expenses come from renting an apartment (a two/three bedroom 
apartment costs about 500 EUR/month), but most grad students of the 
IAA-CSIC share flats, which downsizes accommodation expenses to a maximum 
of 200-250 EUR/month.

The deadline to send the short list of candidates is set by the end of 
January 2007, and the selected candidate will start his/her work no later 
than September 2007. For this reason, we advise any potentially interested 
candidate to contact as soon as possible with Antxon Alberdi 
(antxon@iaa.es) and Miguel A. Perez-Torres (torres@iaa.es), and send them 
his/her CV in electronic format.

With best regards,
Miguel A. Perez Torres & Antxon Alberdi

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Dr. Miguel-Angel Perez-Torres                  http://www.iaa.es/~torres
Investigador Ramon y Cajal                     Office: +34-958 23 05 32
Instituto de Astrofisica de Andaluca          Fax:    +34-958 81 45 30
C/ Camino Bajo de Huetor, 50                   E-18008 Granada, Spain