CyberSec Research

The present investigation is directed at exploring southern polar ionospheric responses to intense space weather events and their correlations with plasma convection and auroral precipitation. The main phases of six geomagnetic storms occurring in the year 2023 (ascending phase of the present solar cycle) are considered for this study. The ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements derived from GPS receivers covering the Antarctic region are used for probing the electron density perturbations during these events. Auroral precipitation maps are shown to illustrate the locations of the GPS stations relative to particle precipitation. SuperDARN maps are shown to understand the effects of plasma convection over these locations. Correlation between the enhanced TEC observations with the auroral precipitation (R $\sim$ 0.31) and the plasma convection (R $\sim$ 0.88) reveals that the latter is more responsible for causing significant enhancements in the diurnal maximum values of TEC over the Antarctic region in comparison to the former. Therefore, this work shows correlation studies between two physical processes and ionospheric density enhancements over the under-explored south polar region under strong levels of geomagnetic activity during 2023.

Flare ribbons with parallel and circular morphologies are typically associated with different magnetic reconnection models, and the simultaneous observation of both types in a single event remains rare. Using multi-wavelength observations from a tandem of instruments, we present an M8.2-class flare that occurred on 2023 September 20, which produced quasi-parallel and semi-circular ribbons. The complex evolution of the flare includes two distinct brightening episodes in the quasi-parallel ribbons, corresponding to the two major peaks in the hard X-ray (HXR) light curve. In contrast, the brightening of semi-circular ribbons temporally coincides with the local minimum between the two peaks. Using potential field extrapolation, we reconstruct an incomplete dome-like magnetic structure with a negative polarity embedded within the northwestern part of the semi-circular positive polarity. Consequently, the magnetic configuration comprises two sets of field lines with distinct magnetic connectivities. We suggest that the standard flare reconnection accounts for the two-stage brightening of quasi-parallel ribbons associated with the two HXR peaks. Between the two stages, this process is constrained by the interaction of eruptive structures with the dome. The interaction drives the quasi-separatrix layer reconnection, leading to the brightening of semi-circular ribbons. It also suppresses the standard flare reconnection, resulting in a delayed second HXR peak.

Turbulence is a ubiquitous process that transfers energy across many spatial and temporal scales, thereby influencing particle transport and heating. Recent progress has improved our understanding of the anisotropy of turbulence with respect to the mean magnetic field; however, its exact form and implications for magnetic topology and energy transfer remain unclear. In this Letter, we investigate the nature of magnetic anisotropy in compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence within low-$\beta$ solar wind using Cluster spacecraft measurements. By decomposing small-amplitude fluctuations into Alfv\'en and compressible modes, we reveal that the anisotropy is strongly mode dependent: quasi-parallel (`slab') energy contains both Alfv\'en and compressible modes, whereas quasi-perpendicular (`two-dimensional'; 2D) energy is almost purely Alfv\'enic, a feature closely linked to collisionless damping of compressible modes. These findings elucidate the physical origin of the long-standing `slab+2D' empirical model and offer a new perspective on the turbulence cascade across the full three-dimensional wavevector space.

Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements (TGEs) are bursts of high-energy particle fluxes detected at Earth's surface, linked to the Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanche (RREA) mechanism within thunderclouds. Accurate detection of TGEs is vital for advancing atmospheric physics and radiation safety, but event selection methods heavily rely on expert-defined thresholds. In this study, we use an automated supervised classification approach on a newly curated dataset of 2024 events from the Aragats Space Environment Center (ASEC). By combining a Tabular Prior-data Fitted Network (TabPFN) with SHAP-based interpretability, we attain 94.79% classification accuracy with 96% precision for TGEs. The analysis reveals data-driven thresholds for particle flux increases and environmental parameters that closely match the empirically established criteria used over the last 15 years. Our results demonstrate that modest but concurrent increases across multiple particle detectors, along with strong near-surface electric fields, are reliable indicators of TGEs. The framework we propose offers a scalable method for automated, interpretable TGE detection, with potential uses in real-time radiation hazard monitoring and multi-site atmospheric research.

Accurately observing the rarefied media of the upper atmosphere, exosphere, and planetary and solar system environments and beyond requires highly sensitive metrological techniques. We present the operating concept and architecture of an in-situ sensing solution based on the dynamics of a levitated nanoparticle (levitodynamics). It can detect and measure impacts of individual particles in rarefied media. Dubbed `LEVITAS', our sensor consists of a dispenser of dielectric nanoparticles and optical trapping of a single nanoparticle in the focus of a laser beam. The trapped nanoparticle constitutes a harmonic oscillator at frequencies in the kilohertz range whose position can be tracked at the standard quantum limit by interferometric detection of the laser photons it scatters. Here, we simulate microcanonical impacts on the nanoparticle and show that the density, velocity, temperature, and composition of the surrounding medium can be estimated accurately. We illustrate the performance of LEVITAS in circumstances ranging from low Earth orbit out to exospheric distances, across which individual impacts can be detected at favourable rates. Furthermore, LEVITAS may be employed to accurately measure highly rarefied neutral distributions within vastly different areas of momentum space. This we demonstrate by simulating the measurement of high-velocity neutral gas particles from the interstellar medium penetrating the heliosphere and flowing through our solar system.

The Sun's magnetic field shows the 11-year solar cycle and shorter periodicities, popularly known as the quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs) and Rieger-type periods, or ``season of the Sun." Although several theories have been proposed to explain the origin of QBOs and Rieger-type periods, no single theory has widespread acceptance. We explore whether the \bl\ dynamo can produce Rieger-type periodicity and QBOs and investigate their underlying physical mechanisms. We use the observationally guided three-dimensional kinematic \bl\ dynamo model, which has emerged as a successful model for reproducing many characteristic features of the solar cycle. We use Morlet wavelet and global wavelet power spectrum techniques to analyze the data obtained from the model. In our model, we report QBOs and Rieger-type periods for the first time. Further, we investigate the individual \bl\ parameters (fluctuations in flux, latitude, time delay and tilt scatter) role in the occurrence of QBOs and Rieger-type periods. We find that while fluctuations in the individual parameters of the \bl\ process can produce QBOs and Rieger-type periodicity, their occurrence probability is enhanced when we consider combined fluctuations of all parameters in the \bl\ process. Finally, we find that with the increase of dynamo supercriticality, the model tends to suppress the generation of Rieger-type periodicity. Thus, this result supports earlier studies that suggest the solar dynamo is not highly supercritical.

We present a scalable machine learning framework for analyzing Parker Solar Probe (PSP) solar wind data using distributed processing and the quantum-inspired Kernel Density Matrices (KDM) method. The PSP dataset (2018--2024) exceeds 150 GB, challenging conventional analysis approaches. Our framework leverages Dask for large-scale statistical computations and KDM to estimate univariate and bivariate distributions of key solar wind parameters, including solar wind speed, proton density, and proton thermal speed, as well as anomaly thresholds for each parameter. We reveal characteristic trends in the inner heliosphere, including increasing solar wind speed with distance from the Sun, decreasing proton density, and the inverse relationship between speed and density. Solar wind structures play a critical role in enhancing and mediating extreme space weather phenomena and can trigger geomagnetic storms; our analyses provide quantitative insights into these processes. This approach offers a tractable, interpretable, and distributed methodology for exploring complex physical datasets and facilitates reproducible analysis of large-scale in situ measurements. Processed data products and analysis tools are made publicly available to advance future studies of solar wind dynamics and space weather forecasting. The code and configuration files used in this study are publicly available to support reproducibility.

Sunspots are the standard measure of solar magnetic activity, which are also used to estimate solar spectral irradiance over centennial time scales. However, because of the lack of homogeneous, century-long spectral measurements, the long-term relation of sunspots and spectral irradiance has not been independently validated. Here we aim to study the relation between sunspots and solar extreme ultra-violet (EUV) irradiance during the last 130 years, over the latest Gleissberg cycle, also called the Modern Maximum, when sunspot cycle heights varied by a factor of 2.5. We calculate the daily variation of the geomagnetic declination at six reliable, long-running stations, whose amplitude (or range) can be used as a centennial proxy of solar EUV irradiance. We also compare this geomagnetic proxy to the solar MgII index of EUV irradiance over the 40-year interval of overlap. We find that sunspot activity dominated over EUV irradiance when cycle heights increased in the early 20th century during the growth and maximum of the Modern Maximum, but EUV irradiance dominated over sunspots during the decay of the MM, when cycle heights decreased in the late 1900s. Our results suggest that the spot-facula ratio varies during Gleissberg cycle -type large oscillations of solar/stellar activity. This modifies the estimated stellar evolution of the relation between brightness and chromospheric activity of the Sun and Sun-like stars.

While humans become more reliant on Earth's space environment, the potential for significant harm from severe space weather continues to grow. As structures from the sun reach Earth's magnetosphere and space environment, they deposit energy that fuels geomagnetic storms. Currently, space weather researchers work to predict the timing and intensity of space weather events, often providing warnings of several days prior to the initiation of a strong geomagnetic storm. Here a new paradigm is presented where, rather than prediction, active steps are taken to mitigate the impact of solar wind structures through temporarily modifying Earth's magnetosphere. Global magnetohydrodynamic simulations are used to demonstrate that artificial mass-loading Earth's dayside magnetosphere can fortify Earth's space environment against strong space weather events. The simulations and supporting analysis use realistic mass-loading from model spacecraft at geosynchronous orbit to show the validity of the enabling physics as well as technical feasibility with current technology. The results demonstrate that with modern technology, the intensity of a major geomagnetic storm could be actively reduced by 50 percent or more, protecting technology and human life.

Interstellar neutral (ISN) atoms enable studies of the physical conditions in the local interstellar medium surrounding the heliosphere. ISN helium, which is the most abundant species at 1 au, is directly observed by space missions, such as Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). However, some of these atoms are ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation before reaching 1 au, producing pickup ions (PUIs). A recent analysis of IBEX data suggests that the helium photoionization rates predicted by models are underestimated by up to 40%. The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on board New Horizons enables the study of PUIs giving complementary insight into the other side of the ionization process. Our goal is to verify this increased helium ionization by determining the ionization rate of ISN helium in the heliosphere based on the SWAP observations of helium PUIs. For this purpose, we analyze SWAP data collected between 2012 and 2022, at distances 22 to 54 au from the Sun. We develop a new method for fitting model distribution functions to the observational data using the maximum likelihood method. Our approach accounts for the spacecraft's rotation and the SWAP response function, which depends on both energy and inflow direction. We estimate SWAP's efficiency for helium relative to that for hydrogen and determine the ISN helium ionization rate. We find that the photoionization rate obtained from the SWAP observations is 43% larger than the rates predicted by models, confirming the IBEX results.

Enhancements in 3He abundance, a characteristic feature of impulsive solar energetic particle (ISEP) events, are also frequently observed in gradual SEP (GSEP) events. Understanding the origin of this enrichment is crucial for identifying the mechanisms behind SEP generation. We investigate the origin of 3He enrichment in high-energy (25-50 MeV) solar proton events observed by SOHO, selecting events that coincide with <1 MeV/nucleon 3He-rich periods detected by ACE during 1997-2021. The identified 3He enhancements include cases where material from independent impulsive (3He-rich) SEP events is mixed with GSEP proton populations. Two high-energy proton events exhibit elemental composition and solar source characteristics consistent with ISEPs. Extreme-ultraviolet imaging from SDO and STEREO reveals narrow, jet-like eruptions in the parent active regions of about 60% of the remaining events. Notably, the highest 3He/4He ratios occur when coronal jets are present, consistent with fresh, jet-driven injection of suprathermal 3He that is subsequently re-accelerated during the event. Correspondingly, jet-associated events show fewer pre-event (residual) 3He counts, indicating that enrichment in these cases does not primarily come from remnant material. We find a positive correlation between 3He/4He and Fe/O, strongest in jet-associated events, consistent with a common jet-supplied seed population re-accelerated by the CME shock.

We examine 3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) detected on 2023 October 24-25 by Solar Orbiter at 0.47 au. The measurements revealed that heavy-ion enhancements increase irregularly with mass, peaking at S. C, and especially N, Si, and S, stand out in the enhancement pattern with large abundances. Except for 3He, heavy ion spectra can only be measured below 0.5 MeV/nucleon. At 0.386 MeV/nucleon, the event showed a huge 3He/4He ratio of 75.2+/-33.9, larger than previously observed. Solar Dynamics Observatory extreme ultraviolet data showed a mini filament eruption at the solar source of 3He-rich SEPs that triggered a straight tiny jet. Located at the boundary of a low-latitude coronal hole, the jet base is a bright, small-scale region with a supergranulation scale size. The emission measure provides relatively cold source temperatures of 1.5 to 1.7 MK between the filament eruption and nonthermal type III radio burst onset. The analysis suggests that the emission measure distribution of temperature in the solar source could be a factor that affects the preferential selection of heavy ions for heating or acceleration, thus shaping the observed enhancement pattern. Including previously reported similar events indicates that the eruption of the mini filament is a common feature of events with heavy-ion enhancement not ordered by mass. Surprisingly, sources with weak magnetic fields showed extreme 3He enrichment in these events. Moreover, the energy attained by heavy ions seems to be influenced by the size and form of jets.

The loss of STEREO-B in 2014 created a persistent blind spot in Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) imaging of the solar farside. We present HelioFill, to the authors' knowledge, the first denoising-diffusion inpainting model that restores full-Sun EUV coverage by synthesizing the STEREO-B sector from Earth-side (SDO) and STEREO-A views. Trained on full-Sun maps from 2011-2014 (when SDO+STEREO-A+B provided 360 degrees coverage), HelioFill couples a latent diffusion backbone with domain-specific additions: spectral gating, confidence weighting, and auxiliary regularizers, to produce operationally suitable 304 Angstrom reconstructions. On held-out data, the model preserves the observed hemisphere with mean SSIM 0.871 and mean PSNR 25.56 dB, while reconstructing the masked hemisphere with mean SSIM 0.801 and mean PSNR 17.41 dB and reducing boundary error by approximately 21 percent (Seam L2) compared to a state-of-the-art diffusion inpainting model. The generated maps maintain cross-limb continuity and coronal morphology (loops, active regions, and coronal-hole boundaries), supporting synoptic products and cleaner inner-boundary conditions for coronal/heliospheric models. By filling observational gaps with observationally consistent EUV emission, HelioFill maintains continuity of full-Sun monitoring and complements helioseismic farside detections, illustrating how diffusion models can extend the effective utility of existing solar imaging assets for space-weather operations.

It is well known that the nonlinear evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence generates intermittent current sheets. In the solar wind turbulence, current sheets are frequently observed and they are believed to be an important pathway for the turbulence energy to dissipate and heat the plasma. In this study, we perform a comprehensive analysis of current sheets in a high-resolution two-dimensional simulation of balanced, incompressible MHD turbulence. The simulation parameters are selected such that tearing mode instability is triggered and plasmoids are generated throughout the simulation domain. We develop an automated method to identify current sheets and accurately quantify their key parameters including thickness ($a$), length ($L$), and Lundquist number ($S$). Before the triggering of tearing instability, the current sheet lengths are mostly comparable to the energy injection scale. After the tearing mode onsets, smaller current sheets with lower Lundquist numbers are generated. We find that the aspect ratio ($a/L$) of the current sheets scales approximately as $S^{-1/2}$, i.e. the Sweet-Parker scaling. While a power-law scaling between $L$ and $a$ is observed, no clear correlation is found between the upstream magnetic field strength and thickness $a$. Finally, although the turbulence energy shows anisotropy between the directions parallel and perpendicular to the local magnetic field increment, we do not observe a direct correspondence between the shape of the current sheets and that of the turbulence "eddies." These results suggest that one needs to be cautious when applying the scale-dependent dynamic alignment model to the analysis of current sheets in MHD turbulence.

How important are gravitational and relativistic effects for interstellar travel? We consider this question in the context of proposed laser-propelled spacecraft missions to neighboring stellar destinations. Our analysis applies to any spacecraft traveling at relativistic speeds. As a concrete example, we focus on a mission to Proxima Centauri b -- a terrestrial-sized planet in the habitable zone around our nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. We employ a Julia reimplementation of the PoMiN code, an N-body code modeling relativistic gravitational dynamics in the first post-Minkowskian (PM) approximation to general relativity (valid to linear order in Newton's constant $G$). We compute the gravitational influence of seven different celestial bodies and find that the Sun has the greatest influence on the trajectory of the interstellar spacecraft. We also study the differences between Newtonian and PM gravity, and find that if mission planners wish to hit Proxima Centauri b with an accuracy of better than about 690,000 kilometers, relativistic effects must be taken into account. To solve for the precise initial data needed to hit an intended target, we develop numerical fine-tuning methods and demonstrate that these methods can (within a given model) be precise to about a femtometer over a travel distance of $\sim4.25$ light years. However, we find that for the spacecraft trajectories we consider, higher order general relativistic effects (beyond the first PM approximation) from the Sun can displace the final position of the spacecraft by tens of kilometers. We also consider the variation in the initial direction of the spacecraft velocity and find that, even with relativistic effects properly taken into account, the miss distances can be dominated by the variation in the initial velocity that could arise from errors during the launch and boost phase of the spacecraft mission.

The dissipation mechanisms in weakly collisional plasmas have been a longstanding topic of investigation, where significant progress has been made in recent years. A recent promising development is the use of the "scale-filtered" Vlasov-Maxwell equations to fully quantify the scale-by-scale energy balance, a feature that was absent when using fluid models in kinetic plasmas. In particular, this method reveals that the energy transfer in kinetic scales is fully accounted for by the scale-filtered pressure-strain interaction. Despite this progress, the influence of ion-electron thermal disequilibrium on the kinetic-scale energy budget remains poorly understood. Using two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of decaying plasma turbulence, we systematically investigate the pressure-strain interaction and its components at sub-ion scales by varying electron-to-ion temperature ratios. Our analysis focuses on three key ingredients of the pressure-strain interaction: the normal and shear components of Pi-D and pressure dilatation. Our results demonstrate that the scale-filtered pressure-strain interaction is dominated by scale-filtered Pi-D across the kinetic range, with the shear component consistently providing the dominant contribution. We find that the scale-filtered normal and shear contributions of Pi-D exhibit persistent anticorrelation and opposite signs across all kinetic scales. We also discover that the amplitude of both anisotropic components for each species scales directly with their temperature and inversely with the temperature of the other species, while the scale-filtered pressure dilatation remains negligible compared to the Pi-D terms but shows enhanced compressibility effects as plasma temperatures decrease. We discuss the implications of these findings in thermally non-equilibrated plasmas, such as in the turbulent magnetosheath and solar wind.

A coronal loop of 290~Mm length, observed at 171~\AA\ with SDO/AIA on February 6th 2024 near AR 13571, is found to oscillate with two significantly different oscillation periods, $48.8 \pm 6.1$~min and $4.8\pm 0.3$~min. The oscillations occur in the time intervals without detected flares or eruptions. Simultaneously, near the Northern footpoint of the oscillating loop, we detect a $49.6 \pm 5.0$-min periodic variation of the average projected photospheric magnetic field observed with SDO/HMI. The shorter-period decayless oscillation is attributed to the eigen-mode, standing kink oscillation of the loop, while the longer-period oscillation may be the oscillatory motion caused by the periodic footpoint driver. The photospheric long-period process can also drive the short-period, eigen oscillation of the loop via the self-oscillatory, \lq\lq violin\rq\rq\, mechanism, in which a transverse oscillation is excited by an external quasi-steady flow. This finding indicates that the most powerful, lower-frequency spectral components of photospheric motions, which are well below the Alfv\'enic/kink cutoff, can reach the corona.

Polar fields at the minimum of a sunspot cycle -- which are a manifestation of the radial component of the Sun's poloidal field -- are deemed to be the best indicator of the strength of the toroidal component, and hence the amplitude of the future sunspot cycle. However, the Sun's polar magnetic fields are difficult to constrain with ground-based or space-based observations from near the plane-of-ecliptic. In this context, polar filaments -- dark, elongated structures that overlie polarity inversion lines -- are known to offer critical insights into solar polar field dynamics. Through investigations of the long-term evolution of polar filament areas and length acquired from the Meudon Observatory and complimentary solar surface flux transport simulations, here we establish the common physical foundation connecting the Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo mechanism of solar polar field reversal and build-up with the origin and evolution of polar filaments. We discover a new relationship connecting the residual filament area of adjacent solar cycles with the amplitude of the next sunspot cycle -- which can serve as a new tool for solar cycle forecasts -- advancing the forecast window to earlier than polar field based precursors. We conclude that polar filament properties encapsulate the physics of interaction of the poloidal magnetic field of the previous and current sunspot cycles, the resultant of which is the net poloidal magnetic field at the end of the current cycle, thus encoding as a precursor the strength of the upcoming solar cycle.