physics.space-ph 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.

Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES). V. Planetary Parameters Derived from Angular Separation Variations

This paper proposes a novel relative astrometric measurement model for the Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES) that relies solely on variations in the angular separation length between target and reference stars, thereby overcoming the limitations of Gaia catalog-based absolute astrometry and traditional direction-dependent methods to achieve the microarcsecond precision required for detecting Earth-like planets around nearby FGK stars.

Dongjie Tan, Jianghui Ji, Chunhui Bao, Xiumin Huang, Guo Chen, Su Wang, Yao Dong, Jiacheng Liu, Zi Zhu, Haitao Li, Junbo Zhang, Liang Fang, Dong Li, Lei Deng2026-03-31🔭 astro-ph

Solar energetic particles and their association with radio emissions

This paper proposes that the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), through its high-resolution radio imaging and spectroscopy combined with spacecraft particle data, will serve as a crucial tool for resolving open questions regarding the acceleration mechanisms, trajectories, and escape of solar energetic particles by linking them to specific solar radio bursts.

Diana E. Morosan, Anshu Kumari, Immanuel Jebaraj, Eduard P. Kontar, Mugundhan V., Ketaki Deshpande, Nina Dresing, Puja Majee, Divya Paliwal2026-03-31🔭 astro-ph

Compression and Reconnection Investigations of the MagnetoPause (CRIMP): A Mission Concept to Uncover the Impact of Mesoscale Reconnection and Plasma Outflow Processes at the Dayside Magnetopause

The CRIMP mission concept proposes a two-spacecraft Heliophysics Medium-Class Explorer designed to use unique multipoint measurements at the dayside magnetopause to investigate how mesoscale structures and plasma outflows drive magnetic reconnection and energy transfer between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere.

Jason M. H. Beedle, Bryan C. Cline, Samuel T. Badman, Humberto Caldelas II, Kelly Cantwell, Alex Hoffmann, Christian Hofmann, India Jackson, Tre'Shunda James, Miguel Martinez-Ledesma, Bruno Mattos, Br (…)2026-03-30🔬 physics

Forecasting Thermospheric Density with Transformers for Multi-Satellite Orbit Management

This paper introduces a transformer-based model that efficiently forecasts thermospheric density up to three days ahead using a compact input set, offering a high-performance, drop-in replacement for empirical baselines to enhance multi-satellite orbit management.

Cedric Bös, Alessandro Bortotto, Mohamed Khalil Ben-Larbi2026-03-30🤖 cs.LG

Solar Wind Reflected Ion Properties at Earth's Bow Shock: Dependence on Upstream Conditions and Shock Geometry

This study utilizes THEMIS observations of 59 Earth's bow shock crossings to demonstrate that reflected solar wind ion properties are primarily governed by upstream conditions and shock geometry, with magnetic field fluctuations playing a key role in ion thermalization and a combined adiabatic-specular model offering the best energy prediction, particularly under quasi-perpendicular shock conditions.

Runyi Liu, Terry Liu, Kun Zhang, Vassilis Angelopoulos, Siqi Zhao2026-03-30🔬 physics

Dynamical Age of Alfvénic Turbulence in the Solar Wind

This paper proposes a new formulation for the dynamical age of solar wind turbulence that explicitly accounts for Alfvénic cross helicity, revealing that turbulence development slows in the inner heliosphere before accelerating beyond 5 AU due to pick-up ion driving, while yielding similar turbulence ages for slow and fast wind streams.

Rohit Chhiber, Yanwen Wang, Arcadi V. Usmanov, William H. Matthaeus2026-03-30🔭 astro-ph

Energy Transport and Heating by Non-Thermal Electrons in a Turbulent Solar Flare Environment

This paper derives analytic solutions demonstrating that turbulence-dominated scattering of non-thermal electrons significantly enhances coronal heating while suppressing chromospheric heating and reducing return-current effects, thereby offering a potential resolution to longstanding discrepancies in solar flare models.

A. Gordon Emslie, Eduard P. Kontar2026-03-30🔭 astro-ph

Non-thermal plasma density redistribution in planetary magnetospheres due to ion-cyclotron waves

This study demonstrates that non-thermal plasma properties, specifically modeled by Kappa distributions, significantly govern field-aligned density redistribution driven by ion-cyclotron waves in planetary magnetospheres, necessitating their inclusion to accurately predict ponderomotive effects and phase transitions between equatorial density minima and maxima.

Joaquín Espinoza-Troni, Felipe A Asenjo, Pablo S Moya2026-03-30🔬 physics

A generalized method for estimating solar wind speeds and densities using spectral broadening for a Kolmogorov turbulence spectrum

This paper presents a unified, frequency-independent method based on Kolmogorov turbulence assumptions to simultaneously estimate solar wind velocities and coronal electron densities from Doppler spectral broadening, which was validated using S-band and X-band radio data from the Mars Orbiter Mission and Akatsuki spacecraft across various heliocentric distances.

Keshav Aggarwal, R. K. Choudhary, Abhirup Datta, Roopa M. V., Takeshi Imamura, Hiroki Ando2026-03-26🔭 astro-ph

Simulation of laser travel-time on Mercury for BELA

This paper utilizes the WARPE simulation software to model how surface microtexture properties, such as grain size and porosity, influence laser pulse shapes for the BELA instrument on Mercury, particularly for ice-covered surfaces, to assess the capability of detecting these variations through future measurements.

Jean Barron, Frédéric Schmidt, François Andrieu, Gaku Nishiyama, Alexander Stark, Hauke Hussmann2026-03-26🔭 astro-ph

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