🔬 Category

physics.space-ph

187 papers

Space physics explores the dynamic environment surrounding our planet and the wider solar system, focusing on how charged particles, magnetic fields, and solar winds interact with celestial bodies. This field helps us understand phenomena like auroras, space weather that can disrupt satellites, and the fundamental behavior of plasma in the vacuum of space. It bridges the gap between astronomy and particle physics, revealing the invisible forces that shape our cosmic neighborhood.

At Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category as it appears on arXiv, ensuring you get immediate access to the latest research. For each paper, we provide both a detailed technical summary for experts and a plain-language explanation that makes complex concepts understandable for everyone. Below are the latest space physics papers from arXiv, curated and simplified for your reading.

Storm-Driven Suppression and Post-Storm Enhancement of Photographic Plate Transient Detections at Geosynchronous Altitude: Empirical Evidence and a Candidate Dusty Plasma Mechanism

This paper presents empirical evidence that VASCO-project-identified sub-second optical transients at geosynchronous altitude are suppressed during geomagnetic storms and significantly enhanced in the weeks following, proposing a candidate mechanism involving storm-trapped, aggregated icy dust that reflects sunlight to explain these pre-satellite era observations.

Kevin Cann2026-04-09🔭 astro-ph

New insights from cross-correlation studies between solar activity indices and cosmic-ray flux during Forbush decrease events

This study utilizes cross-correlation analysis of data from the SOHO/ERNE instrument and neutron monitor networks across two solar cycles to demonstrate that power exponents modeling solar energetic particle fluence spectra are superior predictors of Forbush decrease magnitude compared to coronal mass ejection velocities.

Mihailo Savic, Nikola Veselinovic, Aleksandar Dragic, Dimitrije Maletic, Dejan Jokovic Vladimir Udovičic, Radomir Banjanac, David Kneževic2026-04-09🔭 astro-ph

Deterministic and probabilistic neural surrogates of global hybrid-Vlasov simulations

This paper demonstrates that graph neural network-based deterministic and probabilistic surrogates can accurately and efficiently emulate 5D hybrid-Vlasov simulations of solar wind-magnetosphere interactions, achieving over two orders of magnitude speedup while maintaining high predictive correlations for electromagnetic fields and plasma moments.

Daniel Holmberg, Ivan Zaitsev, Markku Alho, Ioanna Bouri, Fanni Franssila, Haewon Jeong, Minna Palmroth, Teemu Roos2026-04-08🔬 physics

Statistics of blob properties in two types of coronal streamers

A statistical analysis of 2018 SOHO/LASCO/C2 observations reveals that streamer blobs originating from active regions exhibit significantly higher occurrence rates, initial velocities, and accelerations compared to those from quiet equatorial streamers, demonstrating that increased coronal base activity drives more dynamic solar wind structures.

Haiyi Li, Zhenghua Huang, Maria S. Madjarska, Youqian Qi, Hui Fu, Ming Xiong, Lidong Xia2026-04-08🔭 astro-ph

Modeling complex plasma instabilities in space plasmas - Three-component electron formalism of heat-flux instabilities

This paper demonstrates that modeling space plasma heat-flux instabilities with a realistic three-component electron formalism (core, halo, and strahl) reveals significantly different growth rates and complex mode interplays compared to simplified two-component models, offering new insights into heat-flux regulation.

Dustin L. Schröder, Marian Lazar, Horst Fichtner, Rodrigo A. López, Stefaan Poedts2026-04-08🔬 physics

Prediction of Magnetic Flux Evolution During Solar Active Region Emergence using Long Short-Term Memory Networks

This paper demonstrates that a standard Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network outperforms a more complex encoder-decoder architecture in predicting solar active region magnetic flux evolution 3–10 hours in advance using continuum intensity and solar oscillation power maps as inputs.

Eren Dogan, Spiridon Kasapis, Sarang Patil, Jonas Tirona, John Stefan, Irina Kitiashvili, Mengjia Xu, Alexander Kosovichev2026-04-07🔭 astro-ph

Proton Temperature Anisotropy Across Interplanetary Shocks: A Statistical Analysis with WIND observations

This statistical study of approximately 800 interplanetary shocks observed by the Wind spacecraft reveals that proton temperature anisotropy downstream is strongly shaped by shock geometry, deviates from adiabatic predictions due to non-adiabatic processes, and is regulated by kinetic instabilities that constrain the plasma as it relaxes toward typical solar wind conditions.

Zeping Jin, Lingling Zhao, Xingyu Zhu, Vladimir Flosinski, Gary P. Zank, Jakobus Le Roux, Yiming Jiao, Ashok Silwal, Nibuna S. M. Subashchandar2026-04-06🔬 physics

Topographic Modulation of Martian Near-Surface Winds: Insights from Perseverance Measurements and CFD Modeling in Jezero Crater

By integrating Perseverance rover wind measurements with high-resolution Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling, this study reveals how Jezero Crater's complex topography significantly modulates near-surface wind speeds and directions, providing critical insights into the relationship between local terrain and Martian aeolian processes.

Yuhang Liu, Lei Zhang, Zhihao Shen, Peng Cao, Zhao Jiang, Jing Li, Jinhai Zhang2026-04-03🔬 physics