Vassilis Angelopoulos

Quick info

Room: 2712A Geology Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567
Phone: (310) 794-7090
FAX: (310) 206-3051
e-mail: vassilis@ucla.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Experimental Space Physics Research Group Page (ESP)

Courses

EPSS 9 Solar System and Planets (Lower Division):

Properties of sun, planets, asteroids, and comets. Astronomical observations relevant to understanding the solar system and its origin. Dynamical problems, including examination of fallacious hypotheses. Meteoritic evidence regarding earliest history of the solar system. Chemical models of solar nebula. Space exploration and its planning.

EPSS 136B Applied Geophysics (Upper Division):

Lecture, three hours; laboratory/field trips, six hours. Knowledge of Fortran 90 or C++. Requisite: course 136A. Principles and techniques of exploration for mineral deposits using natural and artificial electric and magnetic fields. Methods include self potential, resistivity, induced polarization, electromagnetics, magnetotellurics, magnetics.

EPSS 200C Introduction to Geophysics and Space Physics III: Plasmas --Aeronomy and the Interplanetary Medium (Graduate):

Lecture, three hours. Requisites: Physics 105A, 110B, 112, 131. Solar surface features, heating and expansion of corona, solar wind, plasma and magnetic fields, interaction of the solar wind with Earth, magnetospheric phenomena.

EPSS 240 Space Plasma Physics (Graduate):

Physics of plasmas in space, including treatments based on magnetohydrodynamics and kinetic theory. Applications to solar or planetary winds, steady-state magnetospheres, magnetospheric convection, substorm processes, magnetic merging, field-aligned currents and magnetosphere/ionosphere coupling, ring current dynamics, and wave particle instabilities.

EPSS 265 Instrumentation, Data Processing, and Data Analysis in Space Physics (Graduate):

Principles, testing, and operations of magnetometers and other instruments. Data processing, display, and archiving. Time-series analysis techniques, including filtering. Fourier series, eigenanalysis, and power spectra.

Research Interests

Ph.D. in Physics, with specialization in Space Plasma Physics, 1993, UCLA

Professor Angelopoulos's current research aims to understand how particles are accelerated in Earth's magnetosphere, how the upper atmosphere and ionosphere respond to space currents. He is also studying how the lunar environment is affected by its interaction with the solar wind, critical to future manned missions on the moon.

He has been the Principal Investigator of THEMIS, the scientific and technical lead of this NASA/MIDEX mission, since its inception in 2001. He is currently working on storms and substorms at Earth while incorporating new data from the Moon's plasma environment, as part of the ARTEMIS mission. He also verees the Electron Loss and Fields Investigation CubeSat (ELFIN), funded by NASA and NSF. ELFIN is the first satellite built entirely on the UCLA campus, involving over 250 students over six years, launched on September 15, 2018. This pair of tiny satellites will study how electrons are scattered from the radiation belts by electromagnetic waves, a process which powers the aurora.

Prior to joining the University of California in 1995, Angelopoulos worked at the Applied Physics Laboratory from 1993-1995. He received the American Geophysical Union’s Macelwane medal in 1993 and the Zeldovich medal by the Russian Academy of Science and COSPAR in 2001. When not working, he enjoys playing music, solving puzzles, reading fiction, mountain bike riding and playing basketball with his two children, Nikolas and Constance.

Selected Publications

For a full reference list of papers, please click here.

Angelopoulos, V., et al., November 2019 Near-Earth Magnetotail Reconnection Powers Space Storms. (Nat. Phys.)

Angelopoulos, V., Artemyev, A.V., Phan, T.D., Miyashita, Y. (2019), Near-Earth magnetotail reconnection powers space storms. Nat. Phys. doi:10.1038/s41567-019-0749-4

Angelopoulos, V., et al., December 2018 The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System (SPEDAS). (Space Sci. Rev.)

Angelopoulos, V., et al., December (2018), The Space Physics Environment Data Analysis System (SPEDAS), Space Sci. Rev., 215:9, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-018-0576-4.

Angelopoulos, V. et al., August 2013 Electromagnetic Energy Conversion at Reconnection Fronts. (Science)

Angelopoulos, V., A. Runov, X.-Z. Zhou, D. L. Turner, S. A. Kiehas, S.-S. Li, I. Shinohara (2013), Electromagnetic Energy Conversion at Reconnection Fronts, Science, 341, 1478-1482, DOI: 10.1126/science.1236992.

Sergeev, V., et al., February 2012 Recent advances in understanding substorm dynamics (GRL) - GRL, March 16, 2012 Cover

Sergeev, V., V. Angelopoulos, R. Nakamura (2012), Recent advances in understanding substorm dynamics, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L05101, doi:10.1029/2012GL050859.

Turner, D. L. et al., January 2012 Explaining sudden losses of outer radiation belt electrons during geomagnetic storms. (Nature Physics)

Turner, D. L., Y. Shprits, M. Hartinger, V. Angelopoulos (2012), Explaining sudden losses of outer radiation belt electrons during geomagnetic storms, Nature Phys., doi:10.1038/nphys2185.

Sibeck, D. G. et al., March 2011 ARTEMIS Science Objectives and Mission Phases. (Space Science Reviews)

D.G. Sibeck, V. Angelopoulos, D.A. Brain, G.T. Delory, J.P. Eastwood, W.M. Farrell, R.E. Grimm, J.S. Halekas, H. Hasegawa, P. Hellinger, K.K. Khurana, R.J. Lillis, M. Øieroset, T.-D. Phan, J. Raeder, C.T. Russell, D. Schriver, J.A. Slavin, P.M. Travnicek, J.M. Weygand (2011)ARTEMIS Science Objectives and Mission Phases, Space Sci. Rev., doi:10.1007/s11214-011-9777-9.

Runov, A. et al., March 2011 A THEMIS multicase study of dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail plasma sheet. (JGR)

Runov, A., V. Angelopoulos, X.-Z. Zhou, X.-J. Zhang, S. Li, F. Plaschke, and J. Bonnell (2011), A THEMIS multicase study of dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail plasma sheet, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A05216, doi:10.1029/2010JA016316.

Li, S.-S. et al., February 2011 On the Force Balance Around Dipolarization Fronts Within Bursty Bulk Flows.

Li, S.-S., V. Angelopoulos, A. Runov, X.-Z. Zhou, J. McFadden, D. Larson, J. Bonnell, and U. Auster (2011), On the Force Balance Around Dipolarization Fronts Within Bursty Bulk Flows, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A00I35, doi:10.1029/2010JA015884.

Zhou, X-Z. et al., January 2011 On the nature of precursor flows upstream of advancing dipolarization fronts. (JGR)

Zhou, X.-Z., V. Angelopoulos, V. A. Sergeev, and A. Runov (2011), On the nature of precursor flows upstream of advancing dipolarization fronts, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1029/2010JA016165.

Zhang, X.-J. et al., November 2010 Current carriers near dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail: A THEMIS event study (JGR)

Zhang, X.-J.; V. Angelopoulos, A. Runov, X.-Z. Zhou, J. Bonnell (2011) McFadden, J. P.; Larson, D.; Auster, U. Current carriers near dipolarization fronts in the magnetotail: A THEMIS event study, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A00I20, doi:10.1029/2010JA015885.

Liu, J. et al., December 2010 Superposed Epoch Analysis of Magnetotail Flux Transport During Substorms Observed by THEMIS. (JGR)

Liu, J., C. Gabrielse, V. Angelopoulos, N. A. Frissell, L. R. Lyons, J. P. McFadden, J. Bonnell, and K. H. Glassmeier (2011), Superposed epoch analysis of magnetotail flux transport during substorms observed by THEMIS, J. Geophys. Res., 116, A00I29, doi:10.1029/2010JA015886.

Angelopoulos, V., August 2010 The ARTEMIS Mission. (Space Science Reviews)

Angelopoulos, V. (2010), The ARTEMIS Mission, Space Sci. Rev., doi:10.1007/s11214-010-9687-2.

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