2027학년도 대학원생 2명을 모집합니다. 한국어 안내
We are currently seeking two students for the MSc–PhD integrated and/or PhD programs, ideally starting in 2027. Both positions are centered on understanding black-hole activity and its connection to relativistic outflows and galaxy evolution through radio observations, while developing expertise for the next generation of EHT/mm-VLBI and SKA science. The long-term aim is to train researchers who can take active roles in these major international programs, including areas in which Korea is becoming increasingly engaged.
Applications will be considered until the positions are filled. Prospective students are strongly encouraged to contact the professor in advance to discuss the projects, their background, and the graduate admission process.
Before applying, please read Before You Apply — a reading list on graduate school and careers in astronomy (English and Korean).
1. Dynamics and Magnetic Fields Near Supermassive Black Holes
One position is available to investigate how accretion flows and magnetic fields in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes connect to the formation and evolution of relativistic jets. Although horizon-scale observations are now revealing the structure of black-hole environments, and relativistic jets can be traced over vastly larger scales, the physical connection between these two regimes remains an important open problem. Key questions include how magnetic fields are organized near the black hole, how energy is extracted and transferred into an outflow, and how jets are launched, accelerated, and collimated.
The project will focus primarily on M87 and a small number of other nearby active galactic nuclei, where sufficiently detailed observations allow us to connect the black-hole vicinity to the inner and larger-scale jet. Rather than studying large populations statistically, the emphasis will be on using a few particularly informative systems as astrophysical laboratories. The student will work mainly with observations from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and other very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) arrays, participating in EHT collaboration projects while also developing more focused individual studies.
The student will conduct radio interferometry, VLBI data analysis and imaging, polarization analysis, and physical interpretation of black-hole accretion and jet processes. Possible longer-term directions include observations with expanded Korean and international millimeter-VLBI facilities and, potentially, future space-based millimeter VLBI in the 2030s, areas in which Korea is expected to play an increasingly active role in both instrumentation and science. This project would suit students with a strong interest in black-hole astrophysics, relativistic jets, magnetic fields, radio astronomy, and high-resolution imaging. Prior VLBI experience is not required, but interest in both the underlying astrophysics and the necessary observational/computational techniques is important.
2. Black Hole Engines Beyond Classical Radio Galaxies
One position is available to investigate why powerful black-hole activity and relativistic jets sometimes occur in galactic environments where they are not normally expected, and what such systems can tell us about central-engine physics and black-hole–galaxy evolution. The initial focus will be on spiral DRAGNs—rare systems in which large-scale double radio jets and lobes are associated with spiral or otherwise unexpected host galaxies—but the project will also explore other peculiar AGN populations. Such objects may provide important clues to how jet production and black-hole activity depend on the properties and evolutionary histories of their host galaxies.
The student will continue our ongoing searches for new spiral DRAGNs and related systems using major SKA pathfinder and precursor surveys, including (but not limited to) LOFAR LoTSS DR2/DR3, ASKAP RACS and VAST, and MWA GLEAM-X. Promising sources may be followed up with facilities such as the VLA and MeerKAT for detailed radio spectral and polarimetric studies, while a few selected objects may also be studied at higher angular resolution with VLBI. The project will combine radio-interferometric observations with multi-wavelength archival data, host-galaxy properties, and galaxy-evolution context in order to understand both the central engine and its larger-scale environment.
Machine-learning and deep-learning techniques may be developed where scientifically useful for source discovery, classification, and exploration of very large survey datasets. The research may later expand toward other unusual black-hole systems, including candidate intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies and rare populations that will become increasingly accessible in the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) era by the 2030s. The student will also engage in SKA-related science activities and collaborations, taking advantage of Korea’s growing participation in SKA science and developing experience relevant to future SKA observations, survey science, and international collaborative projects. This project would suit students with a strong interest in black-hole activity, jet formation, galaxy evolution, radio astronomy, and multi-wavelength astrophysics. Experience with programming, large datasets, statistics, or machine learning would be useful, but these are primarily tools for addressing the underlying astrophysical questions which are far more important.
For general information about joining the group, see Join Us.