Kristopher G. Klein
Kristopher G. Klein
Associate Professor
University of Arizona
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
I am a space plasma physicist studying how energy is injected into, transferred through, and dissipated in weakly collisional plasmas. My research focuses on the solar wind as a useful laboratory for and other, more distant, space and astrophysical environments.
My group’s work combines analytical theory, numerical modeling, and spacecraft observations to investigate the relationships between plasma turbulence, kinetic instabilities, and wave–particle interactions.
I am Deputy Principal Investigator of NASA’s HelioSwarm mission and Deputy Principal Investigator for the SWEAP investigation on Parker Solar Probe.
Research
My research addresses three interconnected problems:
- Turbulence and plasma heating: How does turbulent energy cascade through scales and ultimately heat particles in environments with few collisionals?
- Kinetic plasma physics: How do nonthermal particle distributions drive instabilities, exchanging energy with plasma waves?
- Multi-spacecraft measurements: How can simultaneous observations reconstruct the three-dimensional, dynamic structure of turbulent plasmas?
Publications and Software
My publications and open-source research tools are available below: