{"id":117,"date":"2023-02-09T19:15:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T19:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/?page_id=117"},"modified":"2026-09-10T20:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:29:24","slug":"publications","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/publications\/","title":{"rendered":"Publications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Publications \u00b7 UCLA Space Physics & AI Lab<\/p>\n

Ideas tested in the literature.<\/h2>\n

Our work spans fundamental space-plasma physics, radiation belts and waves, auroral dynamics, applied space weather, and machine intelligence for scientific discovery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Google Scholar snapshot<\/p>\n

Recent work, clearly visible.<\/h3>\n

A curated selection highlights current group activity, while the complete and continually updated record remains one click away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Landmark work<\/p>\n

A few papers that changed the picture.<\/h2>\n\n
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NATURE \u00b7 2008<\/p>

The unexpected origin of plasmaspheric hiss<\/h3>

Bortnik, Thorne & Meredith connected a pervasive inner-magnetospheric wave population to discrete chorus emissions generated far away.<\/p>

Read the paper \u2197<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

SCIENCE \u00b7 2009<\/p>

An observational link from chorus to hiss<\/h3>

A coordinated observational study captured the transformation directly, strengthening the physical explanation with in situ evidence.<\/p>

Read the paper \u2197<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

NATURE \u00b7 2013<\/p>

Rapid local acceleration by magnetospheric chorus<\/h3>

Thorne, Li, Ni, Ma, Bortnik and collaborators showed how chorus waves can rapidly energize radiation-belt electrons.<\/p>

Read the paper \u2197<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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From explanation to capability<\/p>

A model that learns the radiation belts.<\/h2>

ORIENT uses neural networks to reconstruct and forecast the dynamic electron environment of the outer radiation belt. It brings years of physics insight, spacecraft observations, and machine learning into an accessible operational research model.<\/p>

Explore ORIENT at NASA CCMC \u2197<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
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SPACE WEATHER \u00b7 2022<\/p>

Modeling dynamic variability with machine learning<\/h3>

Ma, Chu, Bortnik and collaborators \u00b7 e2022SW003079<\/p>

Read the paper \u2197<\/a><\/p>\n

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SPACE WEATHER \u00b7 2021<\/p>

A neural-network model of relativistic electrons<\/h3>

Chu, Ma, Bortnik and collaborators \u00b7 e2021SW002808<\/p>

Read the paper \u2197<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Selected recent work \u00b7 2026<\/p>\n

An active group, across methods and scales.<\/h2>\n

A snapshot from Google Scholar, selected to show the breadth of current work and the contributions of researchers across the group.<\/p>\n\n

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WAVES \u00b7 GRL<\/p>

Latitude and frequency distributions of equatorward-propagating chorus waves \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Qiushuo Wang, Jinxing Li, Jacob Bortnik, Donglai Ma and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

METHODS \u00b7 JGR<\/p>

An automatic maximum-entropy wave distribution method \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Ning Kang, Qiushuo Wang, Jacob Bortnik and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

AI \u00b7 GRL<\/p>

A neural-network model of inner-magnetospheric electric fields \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Man Hua, Sheng Tian, Jacob Bortnik, Donglai Ma and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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CHORUS \u00b7 JGR<\/p>

Global morphology of chorus waves in the outer radiation belt \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Katie Bunting, Nigel Meredith, Jacob Bortnik, Qianli Ma, Ryoma Matsuura and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

AURORA \u00b7 NATURE COMMUNICATIONS<\/p>

Evidence for Alfv\u00e9n waves powering an auroral arc \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Sheng Tian, Zhonghua Yao, John Wygant, Robert Lysak, Jacob Bortnik and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

APPLIED SPACE WEATHER \u00b7 JGR<\/p>

Radiation exposure at aviation altitudes during the May 2024 storm \u2197<\/a><\/h3>

Homayon Aryan, Jacob Bortnik, W. Kent Tobiska and collaborators<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Complete record<\/p>

Browse every publication on Google Scholar.<\/h2>

Scholar remains the most current source during this interim period. This page presents selected recent work and can be refreshed periodically without committing the group to a new reference-management system.<\/p>

RECENT-WORK SNAPSHOT CHECKED SEPTEMBER 2026<\/p><\/div>\n

View the complete Google Scholar profile \u2197<\/a><\/div><\/div>

Also view ORCID \u2197<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publications \u00b7 UCLA Space Physics & AI Lab Ideas tested in the literature. Our work spans fundamental space-plasma physics, radiation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"front-page-no-banner.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":570,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions\/570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atmos.ucla.edu\/space\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}