Programs Feedback About Theoretical Cosmology?

[Ascendant0]

I had been thinking the area I wanted to specialize in was theoretical astroparticle physics. After digging deeper into the exact roles of various sub-fields, I realized what I actually want to do lies in theoretical cosmology. Essentially, I want to study dark energy, or dark matter as a second choice if dark energy isn't an option at that time, with black holes a distant third. The reason what I want to do seems to fall into cosmology is because my goal is to find out exactly what dark energy is and/or exactly what dark matter is. Where dark energy actually comes from, its nature, its composition (if any), and what I feel is most important - if dark energy can be controlled and manipulated. By this, I mean for example: if the expansion rate can be manipulated withing a given region of space, if the expansion can be reversed to be a contraction, things like that, and if so, how. With that said, based on discussing this with others, it seems that type of research would more so fall into the category of cosmology rather than astroparticle physics.

So, I started looking into cosmology, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a whole lot about that specific sub-field. I found one thing that claimed their average salary was 65k, and was absolutely shocked a PhD would pay less than what I earned before this new career path (and without even a bachelors degree at that time). But, from what I gathered looking further into it, it seems like that is the starting pay for postdocs, and it is the norm in pretty much all sub-fields of physics. The numbers also claim an average starting salary of about 130-160k for various fields of physics. How accurate would you consider that to be, and any idea roughly how many actually end up making it into that range? What would be a realistic pay expectation after postdoc?

Also, I know research and academia are the two most wanted and most competitive directions to go afterwards. I also already heard on multiple occasions now that most people have to put in god-awful amounts of hours to come out on top and actually get somewhere in research or academia. So, I already know how competitive what I'm looking to do is, and the hours that will be expected of me. What I'm wondering though is in comparison to other sub-fields, how is cosmology? Between astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, and astroparticle physics, are there any of those four that are preferable for any reason, and if so, why? Any info any of you have about that, or about pursuing a PhD in theoretical cosmology in particular, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Choppy]

I'm not sure there's good data that breaks down employment prospects on that fine of a scale. A good source for finding employment data however is here: APS Statistics
From this report: Initial Employment Physics PhDs 2024 you can check out the starting salaries. Median for university post-docs looks like about $55k or so, maybe closer to $80k in government labs. Those starting in the private sector have a median around the $130k mark, but there may be some caveats within that including: those people may not necessarily be doing the same kind of academic work, and that data likely includes samples from the more professional branches of physics such as geophysics and medical physics.
I think one of the important things to consider when you're thinking about pursuing graduate work in the more theoretical/academic branches of physics is the skills that you're going to pick up. There tend to be about an order of magnitude more PhDs trained than there are room for in academia exclusively, and so the odds are against an person in such a field getting a permanent academic position. So while you are getting that PhD, it's also important to consider what skills you're developing that will make you marketable in the private sector.

 

[gleem]

Here is a paper on the practical applications of cosmology that might be of interest.
https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=47084

For the private sector, you will have to do some work finding specific companies which would need such expertise.