Deadline: 13 dec 2015
VACANCY: Ph.D. position in symplectic geometry at the Mathematics Department of Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
SUPERVISOR: Dr. Fabian Ziltener. For information about myself see: http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~zilte001/.
PREREQUISITES: M.Sc. degree in mathematics or theoretical physics with a strong mathematical component. Candidates in the final stage of obtaining such a degree will also be considered.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION: December 13, 2015
LATEST STARTING DATE: September 1, 2016
HOW TO APPLY: Please submit the following material to utrecht.phd@gmail.com :
1. a cover letter including an explanation why you consider pursuing a Ph.D. in symplectic geometry,
2. your curriculum vitae,
3. a list of all courses taken for your bachelor's and master's degrees together with grades and explanations of the grades,
4. if available: your master's thesis or bachelor's thesis,
5. names, contact information, and e-mail addresses of at least two academic referees, one of which should be your master's thesis supervisor.
- Please also arrange that the referees send their reference letters to utrecht.phd@gmail.com , by December 13, 2015.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: One goal is to find a solution to the following problem by J. Moser: Find conditions under which a given Hamiltonian diffeomorphism of a symplectic manifold has a leafwise fixed point. Such points generalize fixed points and Lagrangian intersection points. They also arise in the context of time-dependent perturbations of classical mechanical systems. The existence of such points has applications e.g. to the presymplectic embedding problem and the existence of stably exotic symplectic forms.
I suggest to attack Moser's problem by defining a Floer homology for a coisotropic submanifold. I am open for suggestions about alternative approaches or alternative problems.
GENERAL INFORMATION: If accepted as a Ph.D. student you will be integrated in the NWO Graduate School ``Utrecht Geometry Center''. You will be offered a full-time position for four years. The gross monthly salary will amount to EUR 2.146,- in the first year to EUR 2.744,- in the fourth year (P-scale of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities). It is supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. In addition Utrecht University offers a pension scheme and a partially paid parental leave.
INQUIRIES: Please send an e-mail to Fabian Ziltener, f.ziltener@uu.nl