ProfessorTimothy Horbury

Waves and turbulence in plasmas 
The solar wind plasma, which fills the solar system, is highly turbulent. We can study this turbulence in great detail with data from spacecraft. I am currently interested in the 3D structure of magnetic fields in turbulent plasmas, as well as their intermittency ("burstiness"), both of which are vital in controlling the propagation of energetic particles throughout the solar system.

Solar Wind structures 
Launches of the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter spacecraft have opened a new chapter in our exploration of the near-Sun environment and the links between phenomena on the Sun and in interplanetary space. We are studying both the large scale structure of the heliospheric magnetic field and small scale strucutres at both fluid and kinetic scales. With the launch of IMAP in 2025, we now have a constellation of spacecraft upstream of Earth at the L1 Lagrange point: combiniing data from them provides new information on the structure of the solar wind. 

Space weather prediction

Both Solar Orbiter and IMAP provide real-time mesurements which can be used to improve space weather forecasts at the Earth, the Moon and elsewhere in the Solar System. We work with forecasting agencies around the world, providing data and supporting their forecasting efforts. 

Novel data analysis techniques
We need to retrieve as much information as possible from the measurements we make. This is particularly important for spacecraft data, which are usually limited in their accuracy and coverage. I am involved with developing new techniques for analysing data from a single spacecraft using wavelets, and methods for combining data from several spacecraft to determine the 3D structure of plasmas.

Funding
UK Space Agency: Principal Investigator, Solar Orbiter Magnetometer; Instrument Lead, IMAP Magnetometer
STFC: Principal Investigator, space physics grant