Space Physics
Jovian electrons serve as an important test-particle distribution in the inner heliosphere and have been used extensively in the past to study the (diffusive) transport of cosmic rays in the inner heliosphere. With new limits on the Jovian…
Although the interplanetary magnetic field variability has been extensively investigated in situ by means of data coming from several space missions, the newly launched missions providing high-resolution measures and approaching the Sun,…
The most remarkable feature of the ultraviolet auroras at Jupiter is the ever present and almost continuous curtain of bright emissions centered on each magnetic pole and called the main emissions. According to the classical theory, it…
The Direct Fusion Drive (DFD) is a nuclear fusion engine that will provide thrust and electrical power for any spacecraft. It is a compact engine, based on the D -$^{3}$He aneutronic fusion reaction that uses the Princeton field reversed…
Foreshock transients are ion kinetic structures in the ion foreshock. Due to their dynamic pressure perturbations, they can disturb the bow shock and magnetosphere-ionosphere system. They can also accelerate particles contributing to shock…
Solar wind ions are observed to be heated in the directions perpendicular to the large-scale magnetic field, with preferential heating given to heavy ions. In the solar corona, this heating may be responsible for the generation of the wind…
It is proposed that reconnection would be a main mechanism governing the plasma processes on auroral time scales in the topside ionosphere/high-latitude magnetosphere transition. It occurs in the downward current region between two narrow…
We suggest that pairing of bouncing medium-energy electrons in the auroral upward current region close to the mirror points may play a role in driving the electron cyclotron maser instability to generate an escaping narrow band fine…
Based on in-situ measurements by Wind spacecraft from 2005 to 2015, this letter reports for the first time a clearly scale-dependent connection between proton temperatures and the turbulence in the solar wind. A statistical analysis of…
Context. The electrostatic potential of a spacecraft, VS, is important for the capabilities of in situ plasma measurements. Rosetta has been found to be negatively charged during most of the comet mission and even more so in denser plasmas.…
During Parker Solar Probe's first two orbits there are widespread observations of rapid magnetic field reversals known as switchbacks. These switchbacks are extensively found in the near-Sun solar wind, appear to occur in patches, and have…
The description, imagery and interpretation of cloud scenes by remote sensing datasets from Earth-orbiting satellites have become a great debate for several decades. Presently, there are many models for cloud detection and its…
The heat transport in the solar wind is dominated by the suprathermal electron populations, i.e., a tenuous halo and a field-aligned beam/strahl, with high energies and antisunward drifts along the magnetic field. Their evolution may offer…
Given the infrequency of extreme geomagnetic storms, it is significant to note the concentration of three extreme geomagnetic storms in 1941, whose intensities ranked fourth, twelfth, and fifth within the aa index between 1868-2010. Among…
The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has been measuring fluxes of the Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) using the IBEX-Hi (0.3 -- 6 keV) instrument since 2008. We have developed a numerical time-depended code to calculate globally…
On September 10 2017, a fast coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the active region (AR) 12673, leading to a ground level enhancement (GLE) event at Earth. Using the 2D improved Particle Acceleration and Transport in the Heliosphere…
This paper describes a novel technique that allows separation and quantification of different sources of convection in the high-latitude ionosphere. To represent the ionospheric convection electric field, we use the Spherical Elementary…
Upstream of shocks, the foreshock is filled with hot ions. When these ions are concentrated and thermalized around a discontinuity, a diamagnetic cavity bounded by compressional boundaries, referred to as a foreshock transient, forms.…
To investigate the power and spectral index anisotropy in the inertial range of solar wind turbulence, we use 70 intervals of electric field data accumulated by Cluster spacecraft in the free solar wind. We compute the electric field…
Magnetic reconnection underlies many explosive phenomena in the heliosphere and in laboratory plasmas. The new research capabilities in theory/simulations, observations, and laboratory experiments provide the opportunity to solve the grand…