Physics : Fully Funded Phd Stfc And Swansea University In The Centre Vortices As Confinement Mechanisms In Qcd (Rs754)

Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?
No
Offer Description
There is a great deal of interest in the nature of QCD, the strong interaction force of particle physics. It has a fascinating personality - in all but the most exotic situations, it confines quarks together into hadrons such as protons and neutrons with a force of 15 tonnes (the weight of 3 elephants), but at large temperatures
1012C such as occurred just after the Big Bang, it is feeble and hadrons fall apart.
How confinement works in QCD, and how temperature affects it is not understood mathematically. Unsurprisingly, it is the subject of intense research and a $1M Millennium Prize. There are however a number of interesting, insightful ideas which may point to a more profound understanding. One of these is "Centre Vortices''. These are the non-perturbative part of the gluonic fields and distil important topological structures thought to contain the essence of confinement.
This project will use a first-principles approach in which large-scale simulations of QCD are performed on a discretised "lattice" version of space and time, similar to the finite difference approach in computational fluid dynamics. Using this Lattice QCD method, Centre Vortex fields will be analysed to understand particles called glueballs and the temperature effects of confinement.
The project will be based on performing computational simulations and theoretical calculations of QCD. It will involve applying quantum field theory and computational methods to understand the nature of the confinement mechanism of QCD.
Where to apply Website

Research Field Physics Education Level Bachelor Degree or equivalent
Research Field Other Education Level Bachelor Degree or equivalent
Skills/Qualifications
IELTS 6.5 overall (with at least 5.5 in each individual component) or Swansea recognised equivalent. Details on the Swansea University English Language entry policy can be found, Candidates must hold a UK Bachelor's degree with a minimum of Upper Second Class honours in Physics or a similar relevant science discipline or overseas Bachelor's degree deemed equivalent to UK Bachelor's (by UK ECCTIS) and achieved a grade equivalent to UK Upper Second Class honours in Physics or similar relevant science discipline -
OR a master's degree with a minimum overall grade at 'Merit' (or Non-UK equivalent as defined by Swansea University).
IELTS 6.5 overall (with at least 5.5 in each individual component) or Swansea recognised equivalent. Details on the Swansea University English Language entry policy can be found

This scholarship covers the full cost of UK tuition fees and an annual stipend of £19,237.
Additional research expenses of up to £1,000 per year will also be available.
Scholarship open to UK and international fee-eligible applicants.
EPSRC DTP studentships are available to home and international students. Up to 30% of our cohort can comprise international students, once the limit has been reached, we are unable to make offers to international students.