Uppsala

Opportunities for PhD Studies in Space Physics

The Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, is integrated with the Uppsala University Department of Physics and Astronomy. The institute in Uppsala has extensive research programs in space physics, with ample opportunities for PhD research projects, and several professors and senior scientists to serve as graduate student advisors. There are also close links to other groups at the university, notably in astrophysics. It is expected that the department and division jointly can provide financial support for 5 - 8 graduate students in total in space physics, and that 1 - 2 new students per year can be accepted.

Space Plasma Physics Research Programme

The Space Plasma Physics Research Programme carries out experimental research in space plasma physics using data from instruments on satellites, and in the future also on space probes. Data sets are now under study from ESA four-satellite Cluster mission and from the NASA Cassini mission.

Examples of current research topics are:

Magnetic reconnection in the terrestrial magnetosphere.
Plasma processes in the magnetosphere of Saturn and in the ionosphere of Titan.
Particle acceleration and heating in space plasma.
Development of state of the art satellite instrumentation and of software tools.

The programme also has an instrument on the ESA mission Rosetta to a comet.

The programme also carries out experimental research in space physics, utilising data from ground-based instruments at high latitudes, in co-ordination with measurements on national and international satellites. Our main ground-based instruments are provided by the large-scale international research facility EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Association) with radar stations in Tromsö, Kiruna, Sodankylä and on Svalbard.

An example of a current research topic is:

The acceleration and outflow of ionospheric Oxygen and its effect on the stability of the magnetospheric plasma and current distribution.

Most of our work is carried out in wide international collaboration and we can offer PhD student supervision in a very international environment.

Contact person: Prof. Mats André, ma@irfu.se , phone +46 - 18 471 59 13

The Physics in Space Research Programme

The scientific activities in the IRF `Physics in Space' (PHISP) Research Programme in Uppsala concern fundamental space physics, and involve studies of the physical principles, laws and mechanisms which control the Earth's interaction with its space habitat. For this purpose we carry out research on

Strcuture formation and dynamical/turbulent processes in space plasma, in particular processes associated with the Stimulated Electromagnetic Emission (SEE) phenomenon in the ionosphere and processes associated with slow-mode soliton generation in the magnetosphere, both of which were discovered by us

Turbulence and turbulent layers in space and the upper atmosphere

Generic electromagnetic wave-based physics in space, including modelling of space dynamics based on fundamental physical laws

Full kinetic theory computer modelling and visualisation of electromangetic turbulence and interactions in magnetised space plasma

Identification of anthropogenic turbulence effects in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere due to electromagnetic radiation from ground-based radio and TV transmitters, including the artificial activation of aurorae

Development of new techniques and facilities for advanced vector polarimetric and interferometric radio and radar studies of deep space, all the way out to the solar atmosphere. One important example is the innovative European LOFAR/LOIS research infrastructure (www.lofar.org; www.lois-space.net), the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope and radar system for space studies

and related experimental, theoretical, and numerical research.

We invite graduate students to enroll in any of these sub-projects or a combination of them. In order to ensure an efficient PhD education, we have long-term close cooperation with the Uppsala university graduate schools in fundamental physics, gradU (www4.tsl.uu.se/~gradU), and in applied physics, AIM (www.aim.uu.se).

In the experimental part of the PHISP research we utilise satellites such as CLUSTER and the International Space Station as well as ground-based research infrastructures and facilities in Scandinavia, Puerto Rico, Russia, and Alaska.

In the numerical work we run our advanced space plasma codes on Sweden's largest multiprocessor mainframes and clusters of computers and have been selected as one of few groups which will have access to the world's most powerful supercomputer which comes on line in early 2005.

The PHISP Research Programme has an extensive collaboration with national and international research groups in space physics, astrophysics, radio science and IT research, and with industry.

Contact person: Prof. Bo Thidé, bt@irfu.se , phone +46 - 18 471 59 14

Last update: 2011-03-10 16:00 /Liza Dackborn