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Professional Preparation
Ph.D. - Space Physics University of California, Los Angeles - 2011
M.S. - Space Physics University of Science and Technology of China - 2007
B.S. - Geophysics University of Science and Technology of China - 2004
Research Areas
Research Interests
Magnetospheric physics
Interaction of electromagnetic waves and energetic charge particles in geospace plasma
Modeling of radiation belt dynamics
Instability and propagation of plasma waves
Applications of plasma waves
Research Description
The Earth’s magnetosphere, our geospace environment a few thousand kilometers above the Earth’s surface, consists of energetic charge particles trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field. Those energetic particles exhibit great variability due to solar activities, and pose a great threat to spacecraft orbiting in it and to astronauts. Understanding and predicting their variability are of great interest for space weather. A variety of naturally occurring electromagnetic waves, from Ultra Low Frequency to Very Low Frequency, play important roles in dynamics of those energetic charge particles, especially the radiation belts referring to population of electrons and protons with relativistic energy in geospace. The physical process involved is called wave-particle resonant interaction, where electromagnetic waves seen by particles match fundamental frequencies of trapped particles, leading to stochastic change in particles’ energy and momentum. My research interest is to study the nature of electromagnetic waves in our geospace and the effect of wave-particle interaction. We use various numerical simulation techniques to address the following questions, how are electromagnetic waves generated due to what kind of free energy, how do them propagate in complex geospace medium, where is the wave energy absorbed, how those waves affect energetic particles, and how do we model temporal evolution and spatial distribution of energetic particle population due to wave-particle interaction. These questions are the compelling science topics of the NASA’s $700M two-twin Van Allen Probes Mission. The mission, named after Dr. Van Allen who made the discovery of the radiation belts in 1958, was launched in 2012 August and aims at identifying fundamental mechanisms responsible for radiation belt loss and acceleration.
For more information on Van Allen Probes from NASA
Ducted Chorus Waves Cause Sub‐Relativistic and Relativistic Electron Microbursts 2022 - Journal Article
Competitive Influences of Different Plasma Waves on the Pitch Angle Distribution of Energetic Electrons Inside and Outside Plasmasphere 2022 - Journal Article
Superposed Epoch Analyses of electron‐driven and proton‐driven magnetic dips 2021 - Journal Article
Observational Evidence of the Excitation of Magnetosonic Waves by an He ++ Ion Ring Distribution 2021 - Journal Article
Repetitive Emissions of Rising‐Tone Chorus Waves in the Inner Magnetosphere 2021 - Journal Article
Frequency‐Dependent Modulation of Whistler‐Mode Waves by Density Irregularities During the Recovery Phase of a Geomagnetic Storm 2021 - Journal Article
Direct Evidence Reveals Transmitter Signal Propagation in the Magnetosphere 2021 - Journal Article
Observational evidence of the excitation of magnetosonic waves by an He++ ion ring distribution 2021 - Other
Awards
Young Investigator Award - USAF [2016]
Appointments
Graduate Student Researcher UCLA [2007–2011]
Postdoctoral Researcher UCLA [2011–2013]
Assistant Professor UT Dallas [2013–2018]
Associate Professor UT Dallas [2018–2022]
Professor Dallas [2022–Present]
Additional Information
Awards and Honors
2012 American Geophysical Union Space Physics and Aeronomy Section‘s 2012 Fred L. Scarf Award
Given annually to a recent recipient of a Ph.D. for outstanding dissertation researchthat contributes directly to solar-planetary science.
2012 Nominee for the Chancellor‘s Award for Postdoctoral Research, UCLA.
The award is given to recognize the important contributions that postdoctoral scholars from a variety of academic areas make to UCLA’s research mission.
2010 Jacob A. Bjerknes Award.
Given for graduate students of the outstanding research by the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA
Beyond Earth’s breathable atmosphere, above the strata where airplanes fly and meteoroids burn up into shooting stars, lies a dynamic region between our planet and the sun, and what happens there is intricately connected to our everyday lives. Dr. Lunjin Chen, an assistant professor of physics at UT Dallas, recently received a three-year, approximately $360,000 grant through the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program to study “space weather” in this region, called the magnetosphere.