We are again looking for summer trainees!
The summer work positions offered by the Vlasiator team at the Space Physics group:
We are looking for applicants who will write a Bachelor’s/Master’s thesis on the topic of the summer work. Please indicate in your application which project you are most interested in.
Hybrid-Vlasov simulations of space plasma turbulence
The solar system is filled with plasmas that display a rich array of physical phenomena, one of which is turbulence. Turbulence is a chaotic process that plays a fundamental role in transferring energy from large to small scales (i.e. from fluid to ion and electron scales) in space plasmas.
The space physics group at Helsinki maintains the Vlasiator code, which produces one of the most advanced simulations of the Earth’s plasma environment. In this project, you will use the Vlasiator code to generate turbulent behaviour in the simulated plasma. The successful candidate will play a leading role in developing this new modelling capability for the research group.
Applicants should have some familiarity with Linux, Bash and/or high-performance computing (HPC) environments, and experience with programming in general. Vlasiator is written in C++, so existing C++ programming skills are beneficial, but this can also be learnt during the project. Some familiarity with plasma physics would be beneficial but not essential.
The work performed will be suitable for either a BSc or MSc thesis, and funding is available for 3 months during summer 2025.
Supervisors: Simon Good, simon.good@helsinki.fi; Jonas Suni, jonas.suni@helsinki.fi
Vlasiator Timeclasses development&optimization
Kinetic plasma simulations of the geospace require resolving very disparate spatiotemporal scales. For example, the Earth magnetic dipole dictates a timescale to be resolved (ion gryofrequency) and the steep increase in magnetic field magnitude drives the simulation timestep down fast. Global simulations with locally varying timesteps (timeclasses) are required to reach the inner portions of the Earth's magnetosphere.
In Vlasiator's high-performance computing context, this leads to nontrivial load-balancing. The task of this summer internship is to test and optimize load balancing for timeclass-enabled Vlasiator simulations. Prerequisites include knowledge of C++ and tool of high-perfomance computing (MPI). Contact: Markku Alho (markku.alho@helsinki.fi)
Particle acceleration associated with foreshock transients
When solar wind particles are reflected at Earth's bow shock, they create a dynamic region known as the foreshock. In this region, backstreaming particles interact with incoming solar wind discontinuities, leading to the formation of various foreshock transients. These transients play a crucial role in accelerating and energizing plasma and could have a global effect on the near-Earth plasma environment. This project focuses on studying specific foreshock transients, such as foreshock bubbles and hot flow anomalies, and how they contribute to plasma energization. The investigation could utilize data from NASA’s Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission as well as global hybrid-Vlasov simulations with Vlasiator. By combining observational and simulation-based approaches, this project aims to enhance our understanding of how these transients influence space plasma dynamics. The data analysis will be done using Python. Contact: Souhail Dahani (souhail.dahani@helsinki.fi) and Lucile Turc ( lucile.turc@helsinki.fi).