Fundamental and exploratory space plasma physics: current and future heliospheric missions

Speaker

Dr Alessandro Retinò - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas - CNRS
Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau France

Abstract

Baryonic matter in the Universe is almost exclusively in the state of plasma, a gas of charged particles governed by complex interactions with electromagnetic fields. It is for this reason that the Nobelist H. Alfvén coined the term Plasma Universe. Examples of cosmic plasmas include but are not limited to planetary and exoplanetary ionospheres and magnetospheres, stellar coronae, interplanetary, interstellar and intergalactic media, supernova remnants, accretion disks and astrophysical jets. A variety of fundamental physical processes, such as e.g. magnetic reconnection, turbulence, shocks and jets generation, occur in such plasmas and are responsible for key astrophysical phenomena such as particle acceleration, particle
transport and radiation. Studying these processes is therefore essential for understanding how the Universe works.
The heliosphere provides an excellent natural laboratory to experimentally study plasma physics since direct measurements of electromagnetic fields and ion and electron distribution functions are available in situ, through spacecraft measurements. The near-Earth plasma environment, on the one hand, is the best place to study fundamental plasma processes since high-resolution in situ measurements can be made at multiple points and can be transmitted to the ground in large volumes. The near-Sun corona, the interplanetary space and other planetary magnetospheres, on the other hand, provide environments where a much broader range of plasma conditions can be found, thus allowing exploratory studies despite of the lower resolutions and volumes of experimental data. In this seminar, I will present some key open questions and challenges related to both fundamental and exploratory heliospheric plasma physics, together with the discussion on in situ spacecraft plasma missions which are currently flying or are being designed for the future to address such questions.

Short Bio

Dr. Alessandro Retinò is permanent researcher at the Laboratory of Plasma Physics (LPP) of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), where he has been since 2010. From 2019 to 2021, he served as co-Lead of the Space Plasmas Group of LPP. In 2012 he was a visiting professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. During 2007-2010, he was junior scientist at the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Graz. He received his PhD in space and plasma physics from Uppsala University in 2007, after obtaining his M.Sc. in astrophysics and space physics cum laude from the University “La Sapienza”, Rome in 2002.
Dr. Retino’s research span a broad variety of topics, going from the analysis and interpretation of in situ spacecraft observations in solar system plasmas (solar wind, planetary magnetospheres) to the study and development of space missions and scientific instrumentation for both electromagnetic field and particle plasma measurements. He contributed with many studies to the fields of magnetic reconnection, turbulence, shocks and particle energization mechanisms, including comparison between in situ observations and numerical simulations, as well as participated to many proposals for spacecraft missions.
From 2015 to 2017 he has been member of the ESA Science Study Team of spacecraft mission THOR, which performed a Phase-A study as ESA M4 candidate, both as mission Science Coordinator and Principal Investigator for the Ion Mass Spectrometer. He is the co-Lead Scientist of the mission Plasma Observatory, which is currently performing a Phase 0 study at ESA. Since 2015 he is also the Lead co-Investigator of the Search Coil Magnetometer of the Radio and Plasma Waves Experiment onboard the ESA L1 JUICE mission, which will be launched in April 2023. He is co-Investigator/Team Member on several other fields and particle instruments onboard heliospheric missions such as ESA/Cluster, NASA/MMS, NASA ParkerSolarProbe, ESA/Solar Orbiter and NASA/HelioSwarm.
Dr. Retino is author of 100+ peer-reviewed articles (ISI H-index: 40) and 30+ invited presentations at international conferences and workshops. From 2012 to 2014 he has been Assistant Editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research – Space and he is currently Associate Editor for Frontiers in Physics - Space Physics. He is vice-president of section H “waves in plasmas” of URSI-France and member of both European Geophysical Union (EGU) and American Geophysical Union (AGU). He has supervised/co-supervised many master theses, 6 PhD theses and 3 postdocs on studies of reconnection, turbulence, shocks and particle energization in heliospheric plasmas.

Further Readings

ESA/Cluster mission: https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/19/1197/2001/ , https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021JA029474

NASA/MMS mission: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-015-0164-9

NASA/ Parker Solar Probe mission: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-015-0211-6

ESA/Solar Orbiter mission: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2020/10/aa38467-20/aa38467-20.html

ESA/JUICE mission: https://www.nae.edu/260902/The-JUICE-Mission-Challenges-and-Expectations

NASA/HelioSwarm mission: https://eos.unh.edu/helioswarm

ESA /THOR mission concept: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-plasma-physics/article/turbulence-heating-
observer-satellite-mission-proposal/01BB69B09206CE04C48BEDA8F24ED33C

ESA/ Plasma Observatory mission concept: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10686-021-09797-7

Others: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.651070/full

Online attendance:

Zoom Meeting
https://unitn.zoom.us/j/81442969891?pwd=cTV2M1J6QWpyNEVUVzFXNStQWDU2Zz09

Meeting ID: 814 4296 9891
Passcode: 576904

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The Trento International School on Observation of the Earth and of the Universe (TISOEU) is an educational facility focused on the Sciences of the Earth and the Universe. It realizes initiatives for the scientific community, for undergraduate and doctoral students, as well as for stakeholders.