Position at Sapienza

Title of the research project (Italian)

Sistemi Quantistici Interagenti: Fenomeni Topologici e Teorie Efficaci

Title of the research project (English)

Interacting Quantum Systems: Topological Phenomena and Effective Theories

Brief description of the research project (in Italian)

Il progetto ha come scopo lo sviluppo di strumenti fisico-matematici per lo studio della materia quantistica interagente, delle sue fasi topologiche, delle sue proprietà di trasporto e della descrizione attraverso teorie efficaci. La sfida matematica per il prossimo futuro risiede nella comprensione dell’influenza reciproca fra effetti topologici e interazioni fra particelle quantistiche, e come questi effetti si riflettano nel trasporto quantistico di carica e spin nei sistemi di materia condensata. L’enorme numero di particelle coinvolte spesso richiede la formulazione di teorie efficaci che descrivano il loro comportamento in termini di un numero inferiore di gradi di libertà. Le linee di ricerca che verranno quindi perseguite all’interno del progetto includono: (1) Topologia e trasporto in sistemi quantistici interagenti e non-interagenti; (2) Proprietà spettrali e dinamiche efficaci per sistemi a molti corpi di bosoni o fermioni.

Brief description of the research project (in English)

The project aims at developing mathematical physics tools to study interacting quantum matter, its topological phases, its transport properties and its description through effective theories. The mathematical challenge for the near future is the comprehension of the interplay between topological effects and interactions among quantum particles, and how these effects influence quantum transport of charge and spin in condensed matter systems. The huge number of particles involved often requires the formulation of effective theories which describe their behavior in terms of fewer degrees of freedom. Research lines to be pursued within the project thus include: (1) Topology and transport in interacting and non-interacting quantum systems; (2) Spectral properties and effective dynamics for interacting many-body systems of bosons and fermions.

Links to the call

Webpage for the call on Sapienza's website: this is the offical call webpage, were all information about the procedure will be posted

Webpage for the call on the website of the Ministry of University and Research: links back to Sapienza's website

Date of publication of the call

December 20, 2023

Deadline to submit the application

January 29, 2024 

Salary

30.000€/year gross; comes to approx. 2.200€/month after taxes

Start of the position

Flexible; probably in Spring / Summer 2024

How to apply

• A Master degree in Mathematics or Physics is mandatory in order to be eligible for the position. A Ph.D. degree in Mathematics  or Physics is not mandatory, but constitutes a preferential qualification. One strict requirement to get the position is not to benefit from other comparable grants at the same time, including a Ph.D. fellowship. This means that if the winner of the position is still finishing a Ph.D., the Ph.D. can be continued but the winner should give up the Ph.D. fellowship when accepting the grant.

• Please read the call carefully, if you read Italian. Unfortunately, there is no "official" English version of the call; to help non-Italian speakers, I have prepared a file which hopefully indicates the main points raised in the call on the application and selection procedure, and also helps to prepare the application with all the required information and documents as briefly indicated in the next points. This file can be accessed below. Still, the legally-binding version of the call is the Italian one, and not much can be done if the application does not comply with it at the "formal" level once the call is closed.

• The application requires producing:

  1. Annex A ("Allegato A") to the call: this is the application proper, where you'll declare all the information about your personal and professional situation;

  2. Annex B ("Allegato B") to the call: this pertains previous "assegni di ricerca" or "ricercatore a tempo determinato" positions you may have held in the past (should be submitted in any case, even if just to declare you never held any such position);

  3. Annex C ("Allegato C") to the call: here you will state again your degrees and academic position, and list all the titles and qualifications (including certificates, contracts, publications, letters of support...) which you want to be evaluated and that you deem are relevant for this position; you will have to attach these documents to your application;

  4. Annex D ("Allegato D") to the call: this is to state that all documents you will attach to the application, listed in Annex C, are unaltered copies of the originals;

  5. all documents, certificates etc. relevant for the position (these are listed in Annex C);

  6. a copy of your C.V.;

  7. a copy of an identification document (e.g. ID card or passport), on which you'll have to write the current date and your signature.

If any of these documents are missing from your application, it will not be processed.

• There are two ways to submit your application (if you submit it otherwise, the applications will not be processed).

  1. Submit it via PEC – Certified Electronic Mail. This is legally certified email account that, in Italy, allows Public Administrations to certify the sender of the email. Standard email accounts are not valid to submit the application. You can find online providers of PEC accounts, usually at a cost of a few euros, but the procedure to open the account may take several days, since you'll need to be identified by the provider. The account needs to be personal: you cannot use someone else's PEC account to submit the application.

  2. Submit it via registered mail with proof of receipt – standard mail is not valid. In this case, I would suggest you print out Annexes A to D and the copy of your identification document, and include all other documents (including your C.V.) as a PDF file in a USB stick, which you can then send together with the print-outs via registered mail.

Selection procedure

• The Evaluation Committee will review all the applications received and produce a shortlist of candidates that are admitted to an interview. The maximum amount of points awarded to each application at this stage is 40/100; candidates with at least 15/100 points will access the interview.

• The shortlisted candidates will be given at least a 20-day notice and will then be interviewed by same Evaluation Committee. The interview can grant another 60/100 points at most. The interview consists in a presentation of the candidate's results which are more relevant to the research project.

• Summing up the points obtained from the evaluation of the application and the interview, a final list of selected candidates will be produced, and the Director of the Department of Mathematics will appoint the winner.

• The whole procedure can take up to a few months from the call's deadline to the appointment of the winner and to the start of the position.

Excerpts from the call and mock application form (in English)

PDF version , Editable version (.docx)

Timetable for the procedure

March 20, 2024: Approval of the Evaluation Committee

March 21, 2024: First meeting of the Evaluation Committee - selection of evaluation criteria

April 16, 2024: Second meeting of the Evaluation Committee - evaluation of the candidates

May 23, 2024 (morning): Interviews with the admitted candidates

May-June 2024: Selection of the winner of the procedure

Contacts

For questions regarding the application or the position, please contact monaco@mat.uniroma1.it (Domenico Monaco, P.I. of the research project) and/or rosanna.briscese@uniroma1.it (Rosanna Briscese, the Administrative Responsible for the procedure).