My primary area of research is in experimental space physics and plasma
astrophysics, specifically, charged particle acceleration, generation of
radio emissions, and magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas. My
focus is on performing experiments in the near-earth environment to advance
our understanding of astrophysical processes. To the right is a recent
experiment, called the Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) satellite
that studies charged particle acceleration in the aurora. It was launched
in August, 1996 and has been yielding very exciting results. Some of the
many publications from this research are listed below.
MAGCAT
A future project that we are working on is the MAGneotspheric Constellation
And Tomography mission. This mission will put sixteen small satellites
into highly eccentric orbits around the earth. The satellites transmit
radio signals between each other to determine the density of electrons
and properties of the magnetic field in the earth's magnetosphere. Each
satellite will also measure the local environment; electrons, ions, and
electromagnetic fields. The main focus is to understand phenomena such
as collisionless shocks and magnetic reconnection which are active astrophysical
processes, for example in cosmic ray acceleration from supernova remnants
and in stellar flares. Much of what is taught in EN156 is relevant to the
MagCAT experiments!
WIND spacecraft observations of solar impulsive electron events associated with solar type III radio bursts, R.E. Ergun, D. Larson, R.P. Lin, J. McFadden, C.W. Carlson, K.A. Anderson, L. Muschietti, M. McCarthy, G.K. Parks, H. R?me, J.M. Bosqued, C. d'Uston, T.R. Sanderson, K.-P. Wenzel, M. Kaiser, R.P. Lepping, S.D. Bale, P. Kellogg, and J.-L. Bougeret, Astrophys. J., 503, 435, 1998.
FAST satellite wave observations in the AKR source region, R.E. Ergun, C.W. Carlson, J.P. McFadden, F.S. Mozer, G.T. Delory, W. Peria, C.C. Chaston, M. Temerin, R. Elphic, R. Strangeway, R. Pfaff, C.A. Cattell, D. Klumpar, E. Shelley, W. Peterson, E. Moebius, and L. Kistler, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25:12, 2061, 1998.
FAST satellite observations of large-amplitude solitary structures, R.E. Ergun, C.W. Carlson, J.P. McFadden, F.S. Mozer, G.T. Delory, W. Peria, C.C. Chaston, M. Temerin, I. Roth, L. Muschietti, R. Elphic, R. Strangeway, R. Pfaff, C. A. Cattell, D. Klumpar, E. Shelley, W. Peterson, E. Moebius, and L. Kistler, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25:12, 2041, 1998.
FAST satellite observations of electric field structures in the auroral zone, R.E. Ergun, C.W. Carlson, J.P. McFadden, F.S. Mozer, G.T. Delory, W. Peria, C.C. Chaston, M. Temerin, R. Elphic, R. Strangeway, R. Pfaff, C.A. Cattell, D. Klumpar, E. Shelley, W. Peterson, E. Moebius, and L. Kistler, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25:12, 2025, 1998.
New features of time domain electric-field structures in the auroral acceleration region, F.S. Mozer, R. E. Ergun, M. Temerin, C. Cattell, J. Dombeck and J. Wygant, Phys. Rev. Lett., 79, 1281, 1997.
In Press
The FAST satellite electric field and magnetic field instrument, R.E. Ergun, C.W. Carlson, F.S. Mozer, G.T. Delory, M. Temerin, J.P. McFadden, D. Pankow, R. Abiad, P. Harvey, R. Wilkes, H. Primbsch, R. Elphic, R. Strangeway, R. Pfaff, C.A. Cattell, in press, Space Sci. Rev., 1999.
Magnetic-field aligned electric fields associated with Debye-scale plasma structures, R.E. Ergun, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, in press, 1999.
Investigation of the EarthÕs magnetosphere with radio tomography, R.E. Ergun, D.E. Larson, T. Phan, S. Bale, C.W. Carlson, I. Roth, and V. Angelopoulos, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1999.