Annonce en lien avec l’Action/le Réseau : aucun
Laboratoire/Entreprise : LIMOS, UMR 6158 CNRS et LPC, UMR 6533 CNRS
Durée : 36 mois
Contact : vincent.barra@isima.fr
Date limite de publication : 2019-05-31
Contexte :
Joint research work between two CNRS Labs (PIA fundings). of Clermont Auvergne University.
The University Clermont Auvergne is located in Clermont-Ferrand, a medium-sized but dynamic city in the east of the Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes region, 3h30 drive from CERN. The city is on the edge of the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Park, recently inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Many cultural activities are available, culminating each February with the International Short Film Festival (the world’s largest festival in this field). Clermont-Ferrand is also the heart of the Michelin tire company. The public transport network is efficient, the LPC and LIMOS laboratories in particular benefits from a tram stop in the immediate vicinity. The cost of living in Clermont-Ferrand is low compared to large cities such as Lyon or Paris. Renting an apartment between 20 and 30 m2 in the city centre near the tram costs about 400 euros per month.
The LPC Lab
The ATLAS Clermont team is part of the Physics Laboratory of Clermont (Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont, LPC) which also includes LHCb, ALICE, LSST and theoretical physics teams, as well as reasearch teams in physics applied to health, environment and energy. The LPC is hosted by the University of Clermont Auvergne and is part of the National Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics (IN2P3), a division of the french national research center (CNRS). Around half of the 160 members of the LPC work in one of the technical departments (IT, mechanics, electronics and microelectronics) or in the administrative department.
The ATLAS Clermont team receives substantial financial support each year from the CNRS/IN2P3, mainly covering travel expenses (to CERN, workshops and conferences) and local IT costs. It provides the team with a pleasant working environment (offices and laptops), including a dedicated local batch cluster with 200 TB of disk storage.
The team is a founding member of the ATLAS collaboration and has always had a significant contribution to the hadronic scintillating tile calorimeter (TileCal), as well as in physics analyses, particularly in connection with the top quark (first thesis on the subject defended in 2002). The ATLAS Clermont team is also active on upgrades for phase 2 of the HL-LHC, for many years now in TileCal and since 2018 in HGTD (High Granularity Timing Detector). For several years, the team has specialized in the research of new physics in final states containing one or more top quarks (ttbar resonances, tbbar resonances) and has in particular initiated in ATLAS in 2011 the search for events containing four top quarks. Since 2013, the team has also contributed significantly to the search for the associated production of a Higgs boson and a pair of top quarks (tth), finally observed in 2018.
The LIMOS Lab
The Laboratory of Computing, Modelling and Optimization of the Systems (LIMOS) is a Mixed Unit of Research (UMR 6158) in computing, and more generally in Sciences and Technologies of information and the Communication (STIC).
The LIMOS is mainly connected with the Institute of the Sciences of the Information and their Interactions (INS2I) of the CNRS, and in a secondary way to the Institute of the Sciences of the Engineering and the Systems (INSIS). The LIMOS has for academic supervision the Clermont Auvergne university and the graduate school of Mines of Saint-Etienne (EMSE), and as partner establishment the Engineer Institute SIGMA. The LIMOS is a member labex IMOBS3 and ClercVolc and federation of search in Environment FR 3467 (which groups 17 laboratories UCA and INRA of the site of Clermont-Ferrand). The LIMOS is an associate member of the federation MODMAD (Mathematical MODELLING and Decision support, FED 4169) carried by University Jean Monnet of Saint-Etienne.
The scientific positioning of the LIMOS is centered around the Computing, the Modelling and the Optimization of the Organizational and alive Systems
Sujet :
One of the major challenges of particle physics is the search for new physical phenomena that are not included in the Standard Model (SM), the theoretical framework describing the elementary particles and their electroweak and strong interactions. Indeed, despite its many experimental successes over the four decades, the Standard Model is considered an incomplete theory, valid over a certain energy range, and part of a more comprehensive theory.
However, as Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) signatures still remain elusive at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, searches for deviations from SM predictions that are not based on a specific theoretical model constitute an exciting alternative strategy. These “generic searches” can benefit greatly from the impressive progresses of the Machine Learning (ML) field in the recent years.
For example ML techniques could be used to “learn” the background properties and distributions in order to be able to search, in data, for the presence of “anomalies” relative to this model. This problem has been the object of many studies in recent years but so far no method has been designed to be really unsupervised.
The goal of the thesis is to develop advanced ML techniques (based on Deep Neural Networks or Autoencoders for instance) to systematically search for the presence of an unknown signal in the data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC.
This task will be conducted at the Clermont Ferrand University (France) in the ATLAS team of the Physic Laboratory of Clermont (LPC, Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont) in collaboration with the Computer Science Laboratory (LIMOS, Laboratoire d’Informatique, de Modélisation et d’Optimisation des Systèmes).
Profil du candidat :
Candidates with a background of particle physics and / or with strong programming skills (C++, Python) will be considered seriously for this position. Speaking French is not mandatory and free French courses will be available. Good knowledge of English is necessary. The application of females is encouraged as affirmative-action measures to ensure gender equality in the recruitment process are applied.
The candidate will be ranked on the basis of the following criteria:
• Topic, content, and score of evaluation of the degree thesis.
• Curriculum of studies and research. Publications (if any).
• Recommendation letters. Colloquium.
The selected candidate will be required to move to Clermont-Ferrand or its vicinities at the beginning of the contract and start attending Ph. D courses at the university. This is a mandatory requirement.
How to apply
1) An email with a zip folder attached including:
– A short curriculum-vitae (max 2 pages)
– A letter of motivation
– A scanned copy of a valid identification document (Passport or ID card)
– A copy of education certificates and transcripts of records.
– A copy of the degree thesis and publications (if any)
Subject of the email should be:
FIRST NAME FAMILY NAME APPLICATION.
The total size of emails to the above address cannot exceed 10 megabytes. If the provided material does not fit in 10 megabytes, candidates are allowed to submit it in multiple emails.
2) At least two letters of recommendation must be sent to the addresses below by the deadline, in a separate email directly by the referees of choice of the candidate
Subject of the email should be:
FIRST NAME FAMILY NAME LETTER OF REFERENCE
Applications must be sent on or before May 31, 2019 to the following contact persons:
Prof. Vincent BARRA (LIMOS): vincent.barra@isima.fr, +33 4 73 40 74 92
Prof. Julien DONINI (LPC): julien.donini@uca.fr, +33 4 73 40 73 02
Incomplete applications or applications sent after the above deadline will not be considered.
Formation et compétences requises :
Candidates with a background of particle physics and / or with strong programming skills (C++, Python) will be considered seriously for this position.
Adresse d’emploi :
LIMOS / LPC
Scientific Campus
63173 AUBIERE, FRANCE