@article{ShpritsKellermanAseevetal.2017,
  author    = {Shprits, Yuri and Kellerman, Adam C . and Aseev, Nikita and Drozdov, Alexander and Michaelis, Ingo},
  title     = {Multi-MeV electron loss in the heart of the radiation belts},
  series = {Geophysical research letters},
  volume    = {44},
  journal   = {Geophysical research letters},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0094-8276},
  doi       = {10.1002/2016GL072258},
  pages     = {1204 -- 1209},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding acceleration mechanisms in the Earth's radiation belts. In particular, a number of studies demonstrated the importance of the local acceleration by analyzing the radial profiles of phase space density (PSD) and observing building up peaks in PSD. In this study, we focus on understanding of the local loss using very similar tools. The profiles of PSD for various values of the first adiabatic invariants during the previously studied 17 January 2013 storm are presented and discussed. The profiles of PSD show clear deepening minimums consistent with the scattering by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. Long-term evolution shows that local minimums in PSD can persist for relatively long times. During considered interval of time the deepening minimums were observed around L* = 4 during 17 January 2013 storm and around L* = 3.5 during 1 March 2013 storm. This study shows a new method that can help identify the location, magnitude, and time of the local loss and will help quantify local loss in the future. This study also provides additional clear and definitive evidence that local loss plays a major role for the dynamics of the multi-MeV electrons.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Maiti2023,
  author    = {Maiti, Snehanshu},
  title     = {Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and cosmic ray transport},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-58903},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-589030},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vii, 81},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {The first part of the thesis studies the properties of fast mode in magneto hydro-dynamic (MHD) turbulence. 1D and 3D numerical simulations are carried out to generate decaying fast mode MHD turbulence. The injection of waves are carried out in a collinear and isotropic fashion to generate fast mode turbulence. The properties of fast mode turbulence are analyzed by studying their energy spectral density, 2D structure functions and energy decay/cascade time. The injection wave vector is varied to study the dependence of the above properties on the injection wave vectors. The 1D energy spectrum obtained for the velocity and magnetic fields has 𝐸 (𝑘) ∝ 𝑘-2. The 2D energy spectrum and 2D structure functions in parallel and perpendicular directions shows that fast mode turbulence generated is isotropic in nature. The cascade/decay rate of fast mode MHD turbulence is proportional to 𝑘-0.5 for different kinds of wave vector injection. Simulations are also carried out in 1D and 3D to compare balanced and imbalanced turbulence. The results obtained shows that while 1D imbalanced turbulence decays faster than 1D balanced turbulence, there is no difference in the decay of 3D balanced and imbalanced turbulence for the current resolution of 512 grid points. "The second part of the thesis studies cosmic ray (CR) transport in driven MHD turbulence and is strongly dependent on it's properties. Test particle simulations are carried out to study CR interaction with both total MHD turbulence and decomposed MHD modes. The spatial diffusion coefficients and the pitch angle scattering diffusion coefficients are calculated from the test particle trajectories in turbulence. The results confirms that the fast modes dominate the CR propagation, whereas Alfv{\´e}n, slow modes are much less efficient with similar pitch angle scattering rates. The cross field transport on large and small scales are investigated next. On large/global scales, normal diffusion is observed and the diffusion coefficient is suppressed by 𝑀𝜁𝐴 compared to the parallel diffusion coefficients, with 𝜁 closer to 4 in Alfv{\´e}n modes than that in total turbulence as theoretically expected. For the CR transport on scales smaller than the turbulence injection scale 𝐿, both the local and global magnetic reference frames are adopted. Super diffusion is observed on such small scales in all the cases. Particularly, CR transport in Alfv{\´e}n modes show clear Richardson diffusion in the local reference frame. The diffusion transition smoothly from the Richardson's one with index 1.5 to normal diffusion as particle's mean free path decreases from 𝜆∥ ≫ 𝐿 to 𝜆∥ ≪ 𝐿. These results have broad applications to CRs in various astrophysical environments".},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{AdolfsHoqueShprits2022,
  author    = {Adolfs, Marjolijn and Hoque, Mohammed Mainul and Shprits, Yuri},
  title     = {Storm-time relative total electron content modelling using machine learning techniques},
  series = {Remote sensing},
  volume    = {14},
  journal   = {Remote sensing},
  number    = {23},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {2072-4292},
  doi       = {10.3390/rs14236155},
  pages     = {17},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Accurately predicting total electron content (TEC) during geomagnetic storms is still a challenging task for ionospheric models. In this work, a neural-network (NN)-based model is proposed which predicts relative TEC with respect to the preceding 27-day median TEC, during storm time for the European region (with longitudes 30 degrees W-50 degrees E and latitudes 32.5 degrees N-70 degrees N). The 27-day median TEC (referred to as median TEC), latitude, longitude, universal time, storm time, solar radio flux index F10.7, global storm index SYM-H and geomagnetic activity index Hp30 are used as inputs and the output of the network is the relative TEC. The relative TEC can be converted to the actual TEC knowing the median TEC. The median TEC is calculated at each grid point over the European region considering data from the last 27 days before the storm using global ionosphere maps (GIMs) from international GNSS service (IGS) sources. A storm event is defined when the storm time disturbance index Dst drops below 50 nanotesla. The model was trained with storm-time relative TEC data from the time period of 1998 until 2019 (2015 is excluded) and contains 365 storms. Unseen storm data from 33 storm events during 2015 and 2020 were used to test the model. The UQRG GIMs were used because of their high temporal resolution (15 min) compared to other products from different analysis centers. The NN-based model predictions show the seasonal behavior of the storms including positive and negative storm phases during winter and summer, respectively, and show a mixture of both phases during equinoxes. The model's performance was also compared with the Neustrelitz TEC model (NTCM) and the NN-based quiet-time TEC model, both developed at the German Aerospace Agency (DLR). The storm model has a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 3.38 TEC units (TECU), which is an improvement by 1.87 TECU compared to the NTCM, where an RMSE of 5.25 TECU was found. This improvement corresponds to a performance increase by 35.6\%. The storm-time model outperforms the quiet-time model by 1.34 TECU, which corresponds to a performance increase by 28.4\% from 4.72 to 3.38 TECU. The quiet-time model was trained with Carrington averaged TEC and, therefore, is ideal to be used as an input instead of the GIM derived 27-day median. We found an improvement by 0.8 TECU which corresponds to a performance increase by 17\% from 4.72 to 3.92 TECU for the storm-time model using the quiet-time-model predicted TEC as an input compared to solely using the quiet-time model.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SmirnovBerrendorfShpritsetal.2020,
  author    = {Smirnov, Artem and Berrendorf, Max and Shprits, Yuri and Kronberg, Elena A. and Allison, Hayley J. and Aseev, Nikita and Zhelavskaya, Irina and Morley, Steven K. and Reeves, Geoffrey D. and Carver, Matthew R. and Effenberger, Frederic},
  title     = {Medium energy electron flux in earth's outer radiation belt (MERLIN)},
  series = {Space weather : the international journal of research and applications},
  volume    = {18},
  journal   = {Space weather : the international journal of research and applications},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {American geophysical union, AGU},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {1542-7390},
  doi       = {10.1029/2020SW002532},
  pages     = {20},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The radiation belts of the Earth, filled with energetic electrons, comprise complex and dynamic systems that pose a significant threat to satellite operation. While various models of electron flux both for low and relativistic energies have been developed, the behavior of medium energy (120-600 keV) electrons, especially in the MEO region, remains poorly quantified. At these energies, electrons are driven by both convective and diffusive transport, and their prediction usually requires sophisticated 4D modeling codes. In this paper, we present an alternative approach using the Light Gradient Boosting (LightGBM) machine learning algorithm. The Medium Energy electRon fLux In Earth's outer radiatioN belt (MERLIN) model takes as input the satellite position, a combination of geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters including the time history of velocity, and does not use persistence. MERLIN is trained on >15 years of the GPS electron flux data and tested on more than 1.5 years of measurements. Tenfold cross validation yields that the model predicts the MEO radiation environment well, both in terms of dynamics and amplitudes o f flux. Evaluation on the test set shows high correlation between the predicted and observed electron flux (0.8) and low values of absolute error. The MERLIN model can have wide space weather applications, providing information for the scientific community in the form of radiation belts reconstructions, as well as industry for satellite mission design, nowcast of the MEO environment, and surface charging analysis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CervantesVillaShpritsAseevetal.2019,
  author    = {Cervantes Villa, Juan Sebastian and Shprits, Yuri and Aseev, Nikita and Drozdov, Alexander and Castillo Tibocha, Angelica Maria and Stolle, Claudia},
  title     = {Identifying radiation belt electron source and loss processes by assimilating spacecraft data in a three-dimensional diffusion model},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  volume    = {125},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9380},
  doi       = {10.1029/2019JA027514},
  pages     = {16},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Data assimilation aims to blend incomplete and inaccurate data with physics-based dynamical models. In the Earth's radiation belts, it is used to reconstruct electron phase space density, and it has become an increasingly important tool in validating our current understanding of radiation belt dynamics, identifying new physical processes, and predicting the near-Earth hazardous radiation environment. In this study, we perform reanalysis of the sparse measurements from four spacecraft using the three-dimensional Versatile Electron Radiation Belt diffusion model and a split-operator Kalman filter over a 6-month period from 1 October 2012 to 1 April 2013. In comparison to previous works, our 3-D model accounts for more physical processes, namely, mixed pitch angle-energy diffusion, scattering by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron waves, and magnetopause shadowing. We describe how data assimilation, by means of the innovation vector, can be used to account for missing physics in the model. We use this method to identify the radial distances from the Earth and the geomagnetic conditions where our model is inconsistent with the measured phase space density for different values of the invariants mu and K. As a result, the Kalman filter adjusts the predictions in order to match the observations, and we interpret this as evidence of where and when additional source or loss processes are active. The current work demonstrates that 3-D data assimilation provides a comprehensive picture of the radiation belt electrons and is a crucial step toward performing reanalysis using measurements from ongoing and future missions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SmirnovShpritsAllisonetal.2022,
  author    = {Smirnov, Artem and Shprits, Yuri and Allison, Hayley and Aseev, Nikita and Drozdov, Alexander and Kollmann, Peter and Wang, Dedong and Saikin, Anthony},
  title     = {An empirical model of the equatorial electron pitch angle distributions in earth's outer radiation belt},
  series = {Space Weather: the International Journal of Research and Applications},
  volume    = {20},
  journal   = {Space Weather: the International Journal of Research and Applications},
  number    = {9},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington, DC},
  issn      = {1542-7390},
  doi       = {10.1029/2022SW003053},
  pages     = {17},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {In this study, we present an empirical model of the equatorial electron pitch angle distributions (PADs) in the outer radiation belt based on the full data set collected by the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) instrument onboard the Van Allen Probes in 2012-2019. The PADs are fitted with a combination of the first, third and fifth sine harmonics. The resulting equation resolves all PAD types found in the outer radiation belt (pancake, flat-top, butterfly and cap PADs) and can be analytically integrated to derive omnidirectional flux. We introduce a two-step modeling procedure that for the first time ensures a continuous dependence on L, magnetic local time and activity, parametrized by the solar wind dynamic pressure. We propose two methods to reconstruct equatorial electron flux using the model. The first approach requires two uni-directional flux observations and is applicable to low-PA data. The second method can be used to reconstruct the full equatorial PADs from a single uni- or omnidirectional measurement at off-equatorial latitudes. The model can be used for converting the long-term data sets of electron fluxes to phase space density in terms of adiabatic invariants, for physics-based modeling in the form of boundary conditions, and for data assimilation purposes.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WalkerBoyntonShpritsetal.2022,
  author    = {Walker, Simon N. and Boynton, Richard J. and Shprits, Yuri and Balikhin, Michael A. and Drozdov, Alexander},
  title     = {Forecast of the energetic electron environment of the radiation belts},
  series = {Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications},
  volume    = {20},
  journal   = {Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications},
  number    = {12},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {1542-7390},
  doi       = {10.1029/2022SW003124},
  pages     = {21},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Different modeling methodologies possess different strengths and weakness. For instance, data based models may provide superior accuracy but have a limited spatial coverage while physics based models may provide lower accuracy but provide greater spatial coverage. This study investigates the coupling of a data based model of the electron fluxes at geostationary orbit (GEO) with a numerical model of the radiation belt region to improve the resulting forecasts/pastcasts of electron fluxes over the whole radiation belt region. In particular, two coupling methods are investigated. The first assumes an average value for L* for GEO, namely LGEO* L-GEO* = 6.2. The second uses a value of L* that varies with geomagnetic activity, quantified using the Kp index. As the terrestrial magnetic field responds to variations in geomagnetic activity, the value of L* will vary for a specific location. In this coupling method, the value of L* is calculated using the Kp driven Tsyganenko 89c magnetic field model for field line tracing. It is shown that this addition can result in changes in the initialization of the parameters at the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt model outer boundary. Model outputs are compared to Van Allen Probes MagEIS measurements of the electron fluxes in the inner magnetosphere for the March 2015 geomagnetic storm. It is found that the fixed LGEO* L-GEO* coupling method produces a more realistic forecast.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ProlSmirnovHoqueetal.2022,
  author    = {Prol, Fabricio S. and Smirnov, Artem G. and Hoque, M. Mainul and Shprits, Yuri},
  title     = {Combined model of topside ionosphere and plasmasphere derived from radio-occultation and Van Allen Probes data},
  series = {Scientific reports},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Scientific reports},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {2045-2322},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-022-13302-1},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {In the last years, electron density profile functions characterized by a linear dependence on the scale height showed good results when approximating the topside ionosphere. The performance above 800 km, however, is not yet well investigated. This study investigates the capability of the semi-Epstein functions to represent electron density profiles from the peak height up to 20,000 km. Electron density observations recorded by the Van Allen Probes were used to resolve the scale height dependence in the plasmasphere. It was found that the linear dependence of the scale height in the topside ionosphere cannot be directly used to extrapolate profiles above 800 km. We find that the dependence of scale heights on altitude is quadratic in the plasmasphere. A statistical model of the scale heights is therefore proposed. After combining the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere by a unified model, we have obtained good estimations not only in the profile shapes, but also in the Total Electron Content magnitude and distributions when compared to actual measurements from 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Our investigation shows that Van Allen Probes can be merged to radio-occultation data to properly represent the upper ionosphere and plasmasphere by means of a semi-Epstein function.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HaasShpritsAllisonetal.2022,
  author    = {Haas, Bernhard and Shprits, Yuri and Allison, Hayley and Wutzig, Michael and Wang, Dedong},
  title     = {Which parameter controls ring current electron dynamics},
  series = {Frontiers in astronomy and space sciences},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Frontiers in astronomy and space sciences},
  publisher = {Frontiers Media},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {2296-987X},
  doi       = {10.3389/fspas.2022.911002},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Predicting the electron population of Earth's ring current during geomagnetic storms still remains a challenging task. In this work, we investigate the sensitivity of 10 keV ring current electrons to different driving processes, parameterised by the Kp index, during several moderate and intense storms. Results are validated against measurements from the Van Allen Probes satellites. Perturbing the Kp index allows us to identify the most dominant processes for moderate and intense storms respectively. We find that during moderate storms (Kp < 6) the drift velocities mostly control the behaviour of low energy electrons, while loss from wave-particle interactions is the most critical parameter for quantifying the evolution of intense storms (Kp > 6). Perturbations of the Kp index used to drive the boundary conditions at GEO and set the plasmapause location only show a minimal effect on simulation results over a limited L range. It is further shown that the flux at L \& SIM; 3 is more sensitive to changes in the Kp index compared to higher L shells, making it a good proxy for validating the source-loss balance of a ring current model.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Aseev2020,
  author    = {Aseev, Nikita},
  title     = {Modeling and understanding dynamics of charged particles in the Earth's inner magnetosphere},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-47921},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-479211},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xxii, 154},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The Earth's inner magnetosphere is a very dynamic system, mostly driven by the external solar wind forcing exerted upon the magnetic field of our planet. Disturbances in the solar wind, such as coronal mass ejections and co-rotating interaction regions, cause geomagnetic storms, which lead to prominent changes in charged particle populations of the inner magnetosphere - the plasmasphere, ring current, and radiation belts. Satellites operating in the regions of elevated energetic and relativistic electron fluxes can be damaged by deep dielectric or surface charging during severe space weather events. Predicting the dynamics of the charged particles and mitigating their effects on the infrastructure is of particular importance, due to our increasing reliance on space technologies. The dynamics of particles in the plasmasphere, ring current, and radiation belts are strongly coupled by means of collisions and collisionless interactions with electromagnetic fields induced by the motion of charged particles. Multidimensional numerical models simplify the treatment of transport, acceleration, and loss processes of these particles, and allow us to predict how the near-Earth space environment responds to solar storms. The models inevitably rely on a number of simplifications and assumptions that affect model accuracy and complicate the interpretation of the results. In this dissertation, we quantify the processes that control electron dynamics in the inner magnetosphere, paying particular attention to the uncertainties of the employed numerical codes and tools. We use a set of convenient analytical solutions for advection and diffusion equations to test the accuracy and stability of the four-dimensional Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB-4D) code. We show that numerical schemes implemented in the code converge to the analytical solutions and that the VERB-4D code demonstrates stable behavior independent of the assumed time step. The order of the numerical scheme for the convection equation is demonstrated to affect results of ring current and radiation belt simulations, and it is crucially important to use high-order numerical schemes to decrease numerical errors in the model. Using the thoroughly tested VERB-4D code, we model the dynamics of the ring current electrons during the 17 March 2013 storm. The discrepancies between the model and observations above 4.5 Earth's radii can be explained by uncertainties in the outer boundary conditions. Simulation results indicate that the electrons were transported from the geostationary orbit towards the Earth by the global-scale electric and magnetic fields. We investigate how simulation results depend on the input models and parameters. The model is shown to be particularly sensitive to the global electric field and electron lifetimes below 4.5 Earth's radii. The effects of radial diffusion and subauroral polarization streams are also quantified. We developed a data-assimilative code that blends together a convection model of energetic electron transport and loss and Van Allen Probes satellite data by means of the Kalman filter. We show that the Kalman filter can correct model uncertainties in the convection electric field, electron lifetimes, and boundary conditions. It is also demonstrated how the innovation vector - the difference between observations and model prediction - can be used to identify physical processes missing in the model of energetic electron dynamics. We computed radial profiles of phase space density of ultrarelativistic electrons, using Van Allen Probes measurements. We analyze the shape of the profiles during geomagnetically quiet and disturbed times and show that the formation of new local minimums in the radial profiles coincides with the ground observations of electromagnetic ion-cyclotron (EMIC) waves. This correlation indicates that EMIC waves are responsible for the loss of ultrarelativistic electrons from the heart of the outer radiation belt into the Earth's atmosphere.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KimShprits2019,
  author    = {Kim, Kyung-Chan and Shprits, Yuri},
  title     = {Statistical Analysis of Hiss Waves in Plasmaspheric Plumes Using Van Allen Probe Observations},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  volume    = {124},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9380},
  doi       = {10.1029/2018JA026458},
  pages     = {1904 -- 1915},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Plasmaspheric hiss waves commonly observed in high-density regions in the Earth's magnetosphere are known to be one of the main contributors to the loss of radiation belt electrons. There has been a lot of effort to investigate the distributions of hiss waves in the plasmasphere, while relatively little attention has been given to those in the plasmaspheric plume. In this study, we present for the first time a statistical analysis of the occurrence and the spatial distribution of wave amplitudes and wave normal angles for hiss waves in plumes using Van Allen Probes observations during the period of October 2012 to December 2016. Statistical results show that a wide range of hiss wave amplitudes in plumes from a few picotesla to >100 pT is observed, but a modest (<20 pT) wave amplitude is more commonly observed regardless of geomagnetic activity in both the midnight-to-dawn and dusk sector. By contrast, stronger amplitude hiss occurs preferentially during geomagnetically active times in the dusk sector. The wave normal angles are distributed over a broad range from 0° to 90° with a bimodal distribution: a quasi-field-aligned population (<20°) with an occurrence rate of <60\% and an oblique one (>50°) with a relative low occurrence rate of ≲20\%. Therefore, from a statistical point of view, we confirm that the hiss intensity (a few tens of picotesla) and field-aligned hiss wave adopted in previous simulation studies are a reasonable assumption but stress that the activity dependence of the wave amplitude should be considered.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ZhuShpritsSpasojevicetal.2019,
  author    = {Zhu, Hui and Shprits, Yuri and Spasojevic, M. and Drozdov, Alexander},
  title     = {New hiss and chorus waves diffusion coefficient parameterizations from the Van Allen Probes and their effect on long-term relativistic electron radiation-belt VERB simulations},
  series = {Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics},
  volume    = {193},
  journal   = {Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {1364-6826},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jastp.2019.105090},
  pages     = {13},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {New wave frequency and amplitude models for the nightside and dayside chorus waves are built based on measurements from the Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) instrument onboard the Van Allen Probes. The corresponding 3D diffusion coefficients are systematically obtained. Compared with previous commonly-used (typical) parameterizations, the new parameterizations result in differences in diffusion rates that depend on the energy and pitch angle. Furthermore, one-year 3D diffusive simulations are performed using the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB) code. Both typical and new wave parameterizations simulation results are in a good agreement with observations at 0.9 MeV. However, the new parameterizations for nightside chorus better reproduce the observed electron fluxes. These parameterizations will be incorporated into future modeling efforts.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DrozdovAseevEffenbergeretal.2019,
  author    = {Drozdov, Alexander and Aseev, Nikita and Effenberger, Frederic and Turner, Drew L. and Saikin, Anthony and Shprits, Yuri},
  title     = {Storm Time Depletions of Multi-MeV Radiation Belt Electrons Observed at Different Pitch Angles},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  volume    = {124},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9380},
  doi       = {10.1029/2019JA027332},
  pages     = {8943 -- 8953},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {During geomagnetic storms, the rapid depletion of the high-energy (several MeV) outer radiation belt electrons is the result of loss to the interplanetary medium through the magnetopause, outward radial diffusion, and loss to the atmosphere due to wave-particle interactions. We have performed a statistical study of 110 storms using pitch angle resolved electron flux measurements from the Van Allen Probes mission and found that inside of the radiation belt (L* = 3 - 5) the number of storms that result in depletion of electrons with equatorial pitch angle alpha(eq) = 30 degrees is higher than number of storms that result in depletion of electrons with equatorial pitch angle alpha(eq) = 75 degrees. We conclude that this result is consistent with electron scattering by whistler and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. At the outer edge of the radiation belt (L* >= 5.2) the number of storms that result in depletion is also large (similar to 40-50\%), emphasizing the significance of the magnetopause shadowing effect and outward radial transport.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CastilloShpritsGanushkinaetal.2019,
  author    = {Castillo, Angelica M. and Shprits, Yuri and Ganushkina, Natalia and Drozdov, Alexander and Aseev, Nikita and Wang, Dedong and Dubyagin, Stepan},
  title     = {Simulations of the inner magnetospheric energetic electrons using the IMPTAM-VERB coupled model},
  series = {Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics},
  volume    = {191},
  journal   = {Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {1364-6826},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jastp.2019.05.014},
  pages     = {17},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {In this study, we present initial results of the coupling between the Inner Magnetospheric Particle Transport and Acceleration Model (IMPTAM) and the Versatile Electron Radiation Belt (VERB-3D) code. IMPTAM traces electrons of 10-100 keV energies from the plasma sheet (L = 9 Re) to inner L-shell regions. The flux evolution modeled by IMPTAM is used at the low energy and outer L* computational boundaries of the VERB code (assuming a dipole approximation) to perform radiation belt simulations of energetic electrons. The model was tested on the March 17th, 2013 storm, for a six-day period. Four different simulations were performed and their results compared to satellites observations from Van Allen probes and GOES. The coupled IMPTAM-VERB model reproduces evolution and storm-time features of electron fluxes throughout the studied storm in agreement with the satellite data (within similar to 0.5 orders of magnitude). Including dynamics of the low energy population at L* = 6.6 increases fluxes closer to the heart of the belt and has a strong impact in the VERB simulations at all energies. However, inclusion of magnetopause losses leads to drastic flux decreases even below L* = 3. The dynamics of low energy electrons (max. 10s of keV) do not affect electron fluxes at energies >= 900 keV. Since the IMPTAM-VERB coupled model is only driven by solar wind parameters and the Dst and Kp indexes, it is suitable as a forecasting tool. In this study, we demonstrate that the estimation of electron dynamics with satellite-data-independent models is possible and very accurate.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WoodfieldGlauertMeniettietal.2019,
  author    = {Woodfield, Emma E. and Glauert, Saraha A. and Menietti, J. Douglas and Averkamp, Terrance F. and Horne, Richard B. and Shprits, Yuri},
  title     = {Rapid Electron Acceleration in Low-Density Regions of Saturn's Radiation Belt by Whistler Mode Chorus Waves},
  series = {Geophysical research letters},
  volume    = {46},
  journal   = {Geophysical research letters},
  number    = {13},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0094-8276},
  doi       = {10.1029/2019GL083071},
  pages     = {7191 -- 7198},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Electron acceleration at Saturn due to whistler mode chorus waves has previously been assumed to be ineffective; new data closer to the planet show it can be very rapid (factor of 104 flux increase at 1 MeV in 10 days compared to factor of 2). A full survey of chorus waves at Saturn is combined with an improved plasma density model to show that where the plasma frequency falls below the gyrofrequency additional strong resonances are observed favoring electron acceleration. This results in strong chorus acceleration between approximately 2.5 R-S and 5.5 R-S outside which adiabatic transport may dominate. Strong pitch angle dependence results in butterfly pitch angle distributions that flatten over a few days at 100s keV, tens of days at MeV energies which may explain observations of butterfly distributions of MeV electrons near L = 3. Including cross terms in the simulations increases the tendency toward butterfly distributions. Plain Language Summary Radiation belts are hazardous regions found around several of the planets in our Solar System. They consist of very hot, electrically charged particles trapped in the magnetic field of the planet. At Saturn the most important way to heat these particles has for many years been thought to involve the particles drifting closer toward the planet. This paper adds to the emerging idea at Saturn that a different way to heat the particles is also possible where the heating is done by waves, in a similar way to what we find at the Earth. We use recent information from the Cassini spacecraft on the number and location of particles and also of the waves strength and location combined with computer simulations to show that a particular wave called chorus is excellent at heating the particles where the surrounding number of cold particles is low.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DentonOfmanShpritsetal.2019,
  author    = {Denton, Richard E. and Ofman, L. and Shprits, Yuri and Bortnik, J. and Millan, R. M. and Rodger, C. J. and da Silva, C. L. and Rogers, B. N. and Hudson, M. K. and Liu, K. and Min, K. and Glocer, A. and Komar, C.},
  title     = {Pitch Angle Scattering of Sub-MeV Relativistic Electrons by Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  volume    = {124},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  number    = {7},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9402},
  doi       = {10.1029/2018JA026384},
  pages     = {5610 -- 5626},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves have long been considered to be a significant loss mechanism for relativistic electrons. This has most often been attributed to resonant interactions with the highest amplitude waves. But recent observations have suggested that the dominant energy of electrons precipitated to the atmosphere may often be relatively low, less than 1 MeV, whereas the minimum resonant energy of the highest amplitude waves is often greater than 2 MeV. Here we use relativistic electron test particle simulations in the wavefields of a hybrid code simulation of EMIC waves in dipole geometry in order to show that significant pitch angle scattering can occur due to interaction with low-amplitude short-wavelength EMIC waves. In the case we examined, these waves are in the H band (at frequencies above the He+ gyrofrequency), even though the highest amplitude waves were in the He band frequency range (below the He+ gyrofrequency). We also present wave power distributions for 29 EMIC simulations in straight magnetic field line geometry that show that the high wave number portion of the spectrum is in every case mostly due to the H band waves. Though He band waves are often associated with relativistic electron precipitation, it is possible that the He band waves do not directly scatter the sub-megaelectron volts (sub-MeV) electrons, but that the presence of He band waves is associated with high plasma density which lowers the minimum resonant energy so that these electrons can more easily resonate with the H band waves.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{QinHudsonLietal.2019,
  author    = {Qin, Murong and Hudson, Mary and Li, Zhao and Millan, Robyn and Shen, Xiaochen and Shprits, Yuri and Woodger, Leslie and Jaynes, Allison and Kletzing, Craig},
  title     = {Investigating loss of relativistic electrons associated with EMIC Waves at low L values on 22 June 2015},
  series = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  volume    = {124},
  journal   = {Journal of geophysical research : Space physics},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {2169-9380},
  doi       = {10.1029/2018JA025726},
  pages     = {4022 -- 4036},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {In this study, rapid loss of relativistic radiation belt electrons at low L* values (2.4-3.2) during a strong geomagnetic storm on 22 June 2015 is investigated along with five possible loss mechanisms. Both the particle and wave data are obtained from the Van Allen Probes. Duskside H+ band electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves were observed during a rapid decrease of relativistic electrons with energy above 5.2 MeV occurring outside the plasma sphere during extreme magnetopause compression. Lower He+ composition and enriched O+ composition are found compared to typical values assumed in other studies of cyclotron resonant scattering of relativistic electrons by EMIC waves. Quantitative analysis demonstrates that even with the existence of He+ band EMIC waves, it is the H+ band EMIC waves that are likely to cause the depletion at small pitch angles and strong gradients in pitch angle distributions of relativistic electrons with energy above 5.2 MeV at low L values for this event. Very low frequency wave activity at other magnetic local time can be favorable for the loss of relativistic electrons at higher pitch angles. An illustrative calculation that combines the nominal pitch angle scattering rate due to whistler mode chorus at high pitch angles with the H+ band EMIC wave loss rate at low pitch angles produces loss on time scale observed at L = 2.4-3.2. At high L values and lower energies, radial loss to the magnetopause is a viable explanation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ShpritsVasileZhelayskaya2019,
  author    = {Shprits, Yuri and Vasile, Ruggero and Zhelayskaya, Irina S.},
  title     = {Nowcasting and Predicting the Kp Index Using Historical Values and Real-Time Observations},
  series = {Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications},
  volume    = {17},
  journal   = {Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {1542-7390},
  doi       = {10.1029/2018SW002141},
  pages     = {1219 -- 1229},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Current algorithms for the real-time prediction of the Kp index use a combination of models empirically driven by solar wind measurements at the L1 Lagrange point and historical values of the index. In this study, we explore the limitations of this approach, examining the forecast for short and long lead times using measurements at L1 and Kp time series as input to artificial neural networks. We explore the relative efficiency of the solar wind-based predictions, predictions based on recurrence, and predictions based on persistence. Our modeling results show that for short-term forecasts of approximately half a day, the addition of the historical values of Kp to the measured solar wind values provides a barely noticeable improvement. For a longer-term forecast of more than 2 days, predictions can be made using recurrence only, while solar wind measurements provide very little improvement for a forecast with long horizon times. We also examine predictions for disturbed and quiet geomagnetic activity conditions. Our results show that the paucity of historical measurements of the solar wind for high Kp results in a lower accuracy of predictions during disturbed conditions. Rebalancing of input data can help tailor the predictions for more disturbed conditions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PostnovOskinovaTorrejon2017,
  author    = {Postnov, K. and Oskinova, Lidia M. and Torrejon, J. M.},
  title     = {A propelling neutron star in the enigmatic Be-star gamma Cassiopeia},
  series = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  volume    = {465},
  journal   = {Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0035-8711},
  doi       = {10.1093/mnrasl/slw223},
  pages     = {L119 -- L123},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {gamma Cassiopeia (gamma Cas), is known to be a binary system consisting of a Be-type star and a low-mass (M similar to 1M(circle dot)) companion of unknown nature orbiting in the Be-disc plane. Here, we apply the quasi-spherical accretion theory on to a compact magnetized star and show that if the low-mass companion of gamma Cas is a fast spinning neutron star, the key observational signatures of. Cas are remarkably well reproduced. Direct accretion on to this fast rotating neutron star is impeded by the propeller mechanism. In this case, around the neutron star magnetosphere a hot shell is formed which emits thermal X-rays in qualitative and quantitative agreement with observed properties of the X-ray emission from gamma Cas. We suggest that gamma Cas and its analogues constitute a new subclass of Be-type X-ray binaries hosting rapidly rotating neutron stars formed in supernova explosions with small kicks. The subsequent evolutionary stage of gamma Cas and its analogues should be the X Per-type binaries comprising low-luminosity slowly rotating X-ray pulsars. The model explains the enigmatic X-ray emission from gamma Cas, and also establishes evolutionary connections between various types of rotating magnetized neutron stars in Be-binaries.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MarkoetterSintschukBritzkeetal.2022,
  author    = {Mark{\"o}tter, Henning and Sintschuk, Michael and Britzke, Ricardo and Dayani, Shahabeddin and Bruno, Giovanni},
  title     = {Upgraded imaging capabilities at the BAMline (BESSY II)},
  series = {Journal of synchrotron radiation},
  volume    = {29},
  journal   = {Journal of synchrotron radiation},
  number    = {5},
  publisher = {International Union of Crystallography},
  address   = {Chester},
  issn      = {1600-5775},
  doi       = {10.1107/S1600577522007342},
  pages     = {1292 -- 1298},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {The BAMline at the BESSY II synchrotron X-ray source has enabled research for more than 20 years in widely spread research fields such as materials science, biology, cultural heritage and medicine. As a nondestructive characterization method, synchrotron X-ray imaging, especially tomography, plays a particularly important role in structural characterization. A recent upgrade of key equipment of the BAMline widens its imaging capabilities: shorter scan acquisition times are now possible, in situ and op erando studies can now be routinely performed, and different energy spectra can easily be set up. In fact, the upgraded double-multilayer monochromator brings full flexibility by yielding different energy spectra to optimize flux and energy resolution as desired. The upgraded detector (based on an sCMOS camera) also allows exploiting the higher flux with reduced readout times. Furthermore, an installed slip ring allows the sample stage to continuously rotate. The latter feature enables tomographic observation of processes occurring in the time scale of a few seconds.},
  language  = {en}
}