Research Associate Jobs

In December 2019, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) was selected as the host site for the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a next-generation nuclear physics facility designed to explore the internal structure of nucleons and nuclei with unprecedented precision. One of the central scientific goals of the EIC is to investigate the non-linear dynamics of dense gluonic matter, including the phenomenon of gluon saturation expected to emerge in heavy nuclei at small Bjorken-x. As the highest-priority construction project for the U.S. nuclear physics community in the coming decade, the EIC represents a major scientific effort, with the BNL Physics Department playing a critical role in its development and scientific program. The ePIC collaboration is developing the flagship detector for the EIC. The Physics Department at BNL is actively engaged in detector design, simulation, software development, and physics performance studies to ensure the experiment achieves its broad scientific objectives. The ePIC group within the BNL Physics Department invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position focused on studies of gluon saturation physics at the Electron-Ion Collider. The successful candidate will play a leading role in developing and carrying out a comprehensive physics program aimed at quantifying the EIC’s sensitivity to gluon saturation phenomena at the baseline beam energies. This work will involve implementing modern theoretical descriptions of gluon saturation, such as those based on the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) framework, into state-of-the-art electron-ion event generators. The candidate will simulate electron-ion collisions using realistic ePIC detector simulations and evaluate the detector’s capability to measure key observables sensitive to gluon saturation. The position combines phenomenological modeling, software development, detector simulation, and feasibility studies.