High Energy Physicist (PhD) at Mercor

High Energy Physicist (PhD) | $80-110/hr | Remote

About the work

Work on CritPt, a public benchmark of research-level physics challenges built to test whether frontier AI models can do genuine physics research reasoning rather than textbook problem solving. The benchmark paper is arXiv:2509.26574 and the company recommends reading it before applying.

You will work on research-level physics problems in your own subfield. Depending on your publication record, that can mean creating problems, solving them, reviewing completed work, or auditing it. The specific assignment is agreed with you once you are matched to an area. This is research-grade work: everything you produce must be complete enough for another specialist in your subfield to follow and verify independently, so written reasoning is part of every assignment.

Research areas

Seven areas, matched narrowly. You need to have published on the specific phenomenon, not in high energy theory broadly:

• AdS/BCFT, end-of-the-world branes, black hole interiors
• LaMET and quasi-PDFs: matching kernels and DGLAP evolution
• LaMET and quasi-PDFs: one-loop perturbative QCD and renormalization
• LaMET and quasi-PDFs: Coulomb gauge matching and lattice QCD parton structure
• Ultralight vector (dark photon) dark matter in laser interferometers
• Matrix models and invariant theory: Grassmann-valued invariants, Molien-Weyl and Hilbert series
• Superconformal and Witten index, finite-N trace relations, plethystic counting

You should be able to point to your own papers demonstrating at least one of these method families: holographic, perturbative QCD, effective field theory, lattice, group-theoretic, or astroparticle and detector methods.

Who we are looking for

• A PhD in high energy theory, nuclear theory or a closely related field. This is a hard requirement. Postdocs, research scientists and junior faculty are the strongest fit; senior PhD students with a strong first-author record are welcome.
• Published work on the specific phenomenon, not the adjacent one. Command of the methods is not enough without publications on the phenomenon itself.
• For the quasi-PDF areas specifically, loop-calculation experience, not lattice experience alone.
• A verifiable publication record: three to five representative papers with arXiv IDs or DOIs, ideally from the last five years, first author preferred. Papers will be checked against the public record.
• Working proficiency with LaTeX, Python, SymPy and Jupyter. Familiarity with an agentic coding extension in VS Code is useful. Gaps are acceptable if declared honestly.
• English at B2 or above, including written reasoning.

Application steps

Apply and complete the attached form, including up to five areas you fit best, each with an arXiv ID or DOI of your own paper as proof, your author position and the methods it demonstrates. Papers and authorship are verified against the public record. You are then either onboarded directly or invited to a short live alignment call to agree the area and assignment. A brief 30 to 45 minute assessment may be added only where needed; most applicants will not see one.

Commitment and rate

10 hours per week, sustained across an 8 to 10 week window, starting immediately. Remote and asynchronous with no fixed hours. $80 to $110 per hour, set by depth of subdomain match.