PhD in Applied Mathematics

The consortium Emergence at all Scales is the national flag-carrier of the NWA route 2 game changer Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (d-iep.org). EAAS combines 8 Dutch and 1 Ukrainian university as well as Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in an interdisciplinary and collaborative endeavour aimed at understanding emergent phenomena across scales, combining multiple fields including physics, mathematics, astronomy, history & philosophy of science, and social science. Its approach to societal engagement throughout the project's 5-year lifetime is equally interdisciplinary, with a wide variety of activities ranging from art/science programmes, large scale science festivals, citizen science and educational initiatives at various levels. EAAS is hiring a total of 20 PhD/postdoc scientists to join the team, and our project/group leaders share the ambition of gender parity in hires across EAAS.

Within this context we invite interested candidates to apply for the PhD/PD position, and work on the sub-project `Emergence of irreversibility and the arrow of time'. We particularly encourage women and candidates from other under-represented groups to apply.

The topic of this PhD project revolves around the concepts of `reversible and irreversible behaviour'. Some phenomena in the real world are `reversible': for instance, a video of the solar system can be run forward and backward, and the two both look reasonable. Other phenomena are `irreversible': a video of an ice cream melting can not be reversed without this being obvious to any human observer. The ice cream has an `arrow of time' that points clearly in one direction.

This distinction becomes an interesting question when one realizes that microscopic physics (e.g. quantum mechanics) is reversible, while macroscopic physics (the ice cream) often is not; how is this compatible with `macroscopic' and `microscopic' being in the eye of the observer, the human being? While Boltzmann was the first to address this, and this question has raised much discussion since, many aspects are still unresolved.

In this PhD project we will build on recent developments around algorithmic (Kolmogorov) randomness to understand the emergence of the arrow of time in a more fundamental manner. We will combine this with theory and ideas from partial differential equations and stochastic processes; in the process of your PhD you will learn about all these fields (and more).

You will be employed by and primarily be located at TU/e, specifically within its Center for Analysis, Scientific Computing, and Applications (CASA, https://casa.win.tue.nl/home/), which is part of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Moreover, you will benefit from the Emergence at all Scales (EAAS) consortium, which combines interdisciplinary collaborations across fields and geographical locations within the Netherlands, and offers you the opportunity to acquire skills by participating in science communication activities, interacting with public audiences, and taking part in a pilot programme where experience can be acquired in high-school science teaching. In the context of EAAS you will be supervised by Mark Peletier (TU/e), Klaas Landsman (RU), Frank Redig (DIAM, TU Delft), and Erik Verlinde (UvA), with associated embeddings in the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP, https://www.d-iep.org/diep-uva) at the UvA and the Radboud Center for Natural Philosophy (RCNP, https://rcnp.science.ru.nl/index.html) at the RU.

Requirements:

• A master's degree (or an equivalent university degree) in mathematics; a double mathematics-physics degree is a plus.
• A research-oriented attitude.
• Ability to work in an interdisciplinary team and interested in collaborating with partners from beyond mathematics.
• Motivated to develop your teaching skills and coach students.
• Fluent in spoken and written English (C1 level).

Salary Benefits:

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months.
•  You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks and activities for the EAAS consortium.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,901 max. €3,707).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.

38 hours per week

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