Dr Daniel Verscharen
Senior Research Fellow
Dept of Space & Climate Physics
Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences
- Joined UCL
- 1st Sep 2017
Research summary
In my research, I investigate the plasma physics of the solar wind and the solar corona. A plasma is a gas in which the ions and electrons are separated from each other and do not form neutral atoms like in a regular gas. The solar wind is a tenuous magnetised plasma. The moving charged plasma particles modify and react to electric and magnetic fields. This leads to a behaviour that is very different from the behaviour of neutral gases like the air. My work combines analytical theory, numerical simulations, and spacecraft observations to understand the fundamental physics behind the behaviour of plasma in space. I am especially interested in wave-particle interactions, kinetic waves and instabilities, turbulence, plasma heating, and shock waves.
Teaching summary
I currently teach the lecture course "Planetary Atmospheres" at UCL. This course is aimed at fourth-year undergraduate students in physics and graduate students in UCL's MSc programme "Space Science and Engineering". I also co-supervise the Group Project in this module. In the Group Project, the students design a scientific space mission, including all aspects such as science background and requirements, mission profile, launcher choice, orbit design, financial management, communications, and operations.
Education
- Other Postgraduate qualification (including professional), ATQ03 - Recognised by the HEA as a Fellow | 2019
- Technische Universitat Carolo Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig
- Doctorate, Doctor rerum naturalium | 2012
- Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms- Universitat Bonn
- First Degree, Diplom | 2007
Biography
I received my undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Bonn, Germany in 2007. Afterwards, I moved to the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau, Germany to study for my PhD. In my thesis, I explore convective wave structures and spectral transfer in the solar corona and the solar wind. For this work, I received my PhD in physics from the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany in 2012.