Understanding the plasma processes connecting the solar system

Our solar system is immersed in a sea of plasma. Like an ocean on Earth, this plasma is constantly churning with wave-particle interactions caused by the interface of planetary bodies with the stream of particles released by the sun. These interactions create a wide range of effects, from energizing “killer electrons” around Earth to creating dazzling auroras on Jupiter.

Allison Jaynes presents an overview of such wave-particle interactions, from fundamental physics to unanswered questions in the field, with a goal of showcasing the interconnected nature of the plasma processes happening across the solar system.

“These are not just things that happen way out in space,” Jaynes said. “Some connect space weather with terrestrial weather and terrestrial climate.”

The overview paper begins with fundamentals of plasma and wave-particle interactions, including an overview of different types of plasma waves, from chorus waves to electron cyclotron harmonic waves. It goes on to discuss these interactions in auroras, the Van Allen belts, and more distant phenomena from those around the gas giants to ones happening at the most distant reaches of the solar system as seen by the Voyager satellites.

Jaynes hopes the paper can be an inspiration for early career researchers in plasma physics and space plasma physics, where research can often feel disconnected. The paper, which includes many highlights from those researchers, can help show there is a bigger picture to those niche research topics.

“I think that fitting your science into a bigger picture can help in the long run for getting people excited about this type of science and getting funding and having public support for it,” Jaynes said.

Source: “Waves in a plasma ocean: Wave-particle interactions throughout the solar system,” by Allison N. Jaynes, Physics of Plasmas (2025). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0279021 .

This paper is part of the Papers from the 65^th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics Collection, learn more here .