PhD Researcher: GPU-Accelerated Stellar Dynamos

Aalto University; Espoo; On-site; EUR 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Occupational health benefits

University-competitive salary

Two-year fixed-term appointment with 2

Job summary

Aalto University invites applications for a Doctoral researcher to develop and assess habitable exoplanet‑oriented stellar dynamo models using fully compressible MHD and ML approaches. You will work in the High‑Performance Computing Lab within PEAS, collaborating with colleagues across astrophysics, exoplanets, and computing.

The role entails designing advanced simulations on HPC resources, coupling global and local radiative MHD models, and contributing to open data initiatives.

Qualifications

• Required Master’s degree completed before the contract starts (e.g., astrophysics, applied physics, computational science, or closely related).
• Strong programming skills (e.g., C/C++/Fortran and Python) and familiarity with reproducible workflows/version control.
• Motivation to pursue independent and collaborative research, and strong communication skills in English.
• Demonstrated experience with MHD or fluid‑dynamics solvers and analysis of large‑scale simulations; experience on GPUs is a plus.
• Experience with physics‑informed ML for scientific data
• Familiarity with SWMF‑like models for stellar coronae and wind modelling.

Responsibilities

• Develop data‑driven differential rotation constraints in the global dynamo models (e.g., via relaxation terms in the Navier–Stokes equation), calibrating against solar/stellar observations.
• Design, run, and analyse large‑scale global solar/stellar dynamo simulations capable of capturing both small‑scale and large‑scale dynamos in the same model with resolutions requiring at LUMI‑class resources.
• Perform model selection and pruning using observational constraints, extend best‑match runs over multiple stellar activity cycles, and prepare datasets for ML analysis.
• Interface with SWMF modules (AWSoM/IA) to model stellar coronae and winds driven by dynamo‑generated surface magnetic maps.
• Disseminate results in journals and conferences; contribute to open‑science releases of data and code.
• In addition to research work, participants are expected to engage in teaching following standard department practices.

Skills

C/C++/Fortran

Python

HPC

Machine learning

English proficiency

Education

Master's degree in astrophysics

Tools

SWMF-like models

GPU programming

Radiative transfer tools

Job description

Aalto University invites applications for a Doctoral researcher to develop and assess habitable exoplanet‑oriented stellar dynamo models using fully compressible MHD and ML approaches. You will work in the High‑Performance Computing Lab within PEAS, collaborating with colleagues across astrophysics, exoplanets, and computing.

The role entails designing advanced simulations on HPC resources, coupling global and local radiative MHD models, and contributing to open data initiatives.