General information
Organisation
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.
Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.
The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
Reference
SL-DRF-26-0321
Direction
DRF
Thesis topic details
Category
Corpuscular physics and outer space
Thesis topics
Magnetar formation: from amplification to relaxation of the most extreme magnetic fields
Contract
Thèse
Job description
Magnetars are neutron stars with the strongest magnetic fields known in the Universe, observed as high-energy galactic sources. The formation of these objects is one of the most studied scenarios to explain some of the most violent explosions: superluminous supernovae, hypernovae, and gamma-ray bursts. In recent years, our team has succeeded in numerically reproducing magnetic fields of magnetar-like intensities by simulating dynamo amplification mechanisms that develop in the proto-neutron star during the first seconds after the collapse of the progenitor core. However, most observational manifestations of magnetars require the magnetic field to survive over much longer timescales (from a few weeks for super-luminous supernovae to thousands of years for Galactic magnetars). This thesis will consist of developing 3D numerical simulations of magnetic field relaxation initialized from different dynamo states previously calculated by the team, extending them to later stages after the birth of the neutron star when the dynamo is no longer active. The student will thus determine how the turbulent magnetic field generated in the first few seconds will evolve to eventually reach a stable equilibrium state, whose topology will be characterized and compared with observations.
University / doctoral school
Astronomie et Astrophysique d’Île de France (ED A&A)
Paris-Saclay
Thesis topic location
Site
Saclay
Requester
Position start date
01/10/2026
Person to be contacted by the applicant
Raynaud Raphaël
raphael.raynaud@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU/DAP/LMPA
Orme des merisiers, Bat 709
CEA Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette
Tutor / Responsible thesis director
Guilet Jérôme
jerome.guilet@cea.fr
CEA
DRF/IRFU/DAP/LMPA
Orme des merisiers, Bat 709
CEA Saclay
91191 Gif-sur-Yvette
06 38 62 46 30
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