My research specializes in the magnetospheres and auroras of the outer solar-system planets. The giant planets possess powerful auroras that are, in contrast to Earth, major sources of heat for their atmospheres. How and where auroral particles are energized remains a longstanding question. Another uniqueness of the outer planets are the roles of their active moons and ring systems that drive the dynamics of their host planets’ magnetospheres. My research utilizes spacecraft data to explain (i) how plasma waves (packets of electromagnetic energy) propagate through the gas giant environments and transfer their energy to particles, accelerating them to high enough energies to generate the auroras; (ii) how the moons and rings are electrodyamically coupled to their host planets; and (iii) how the solar wind (stream of charged particles originating from the sun) interact with the magnetospheres.
Plasma waves are ubiquitous in space. They play a major role in heating and accelerating particles. My goal is to understand the microphysical picture of magnetospheric dynamics and auroral generation. I am interested in how this knowledge can be applied to other giant planet systems within and beyond the Solar System.