Dr. Joseph Fainberg has been at GSFC for 30 years where he has participated as a Co-I on many radio astronomy spacecraft experiments devoted to the use of low frequency radio waves as measures of basic physical processes occurring at distances from the outer solar corona to past the Earth's orbit. Projects with which he has been associated are RAE (Radio Astronomy Explorer), IMP-6 (Interplanetary Monitor Platform), ATS (Advanced Technology Satellite), ISEE-3 (International Sun Earth Explorer), Ulysses, and WIND.
Low frequency radio and plasma instruments offer a means of studying basic interactions of charged particles in the magnetized plasma environment in interplanetary space and in planetary magnetospheres. Current research activities include a) determination of large scale interplanetary magnetic field configurations using solar radio bursts as tracers, b) investigation of relation of wave processes (enhanced ion-acoustic waves) due to unusual thermodynamics in magnetic clouds, c) investigation of evolution of magnetic clouds in the interplanetary medium and comparison with results predicted by exact self-similar MHD solutions, d) study of class of plasma effects when the electron gyrofrequency is of the order of the plasma frequency e) study of nonlinear behavior of magnetized plasmas in cylindrical configurations, using the cold fluid approximation, but preserving all nonlinear terms and f) study of a solar wind quasi-invariant as a tracer of magnetic clouds and other disturbances and its use as an interplanetary index of the solar cycle.
Positions and Appointments
Astrophysicist
Geospace Physics Laboratory
Heliophysics Science Division
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
1966-present - Radio Physics, Physics of Interplanetary Phenomena, NASA/GSFC
1960-1965 - Research Scientist (Assoc. Prof.), Johns Hopkins University
1957-1960 - Research Associate (Asst. Prof.), Johns Hopkins University
1957-1960 - Research Staff Asst. (Instructor.), Johns Hopkins University
1953-1957 - Research Asst., University of Chicago
1953-1954 - Instructor, Roosevelt University
1950-1953 - Research Asst., University of Chicago
Education
B.A., Liberal Arts, University of Chicago, 1950
B.S., Mathematics, University of Chicago, 1951
M.S., Physics, University of Chicago, 1953
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1965
Publications
1. "Measurements of Polytropic Index in the January 10-11,1997 Magnetic Cloud" , Osherovich, V.A., J. Fainberg, R.G. Stone, R.J. Fitzenreiter and A. Vinas, Geophysical Research Letters, in press, 1998
2. "On the Origin of Radio Emissions Associated with the January 6-11, 1997 CME", M. J. Reiner, M. L. Kaiser, J. Fainberg, J.-L. Bougeret and R.G. Stone, Geophysical Research Letters, in press, 1998.
3. "Theoretical Analysis of Resonance Conditions in Magnetized Plasmas when the Plasma/Gyro Frequency Ratio is Close to an Integer.", V. A. Osherovich and J. Fainberg, Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics, 59, 2361-2366, 1997.
4. "Remote radio tracking of interplanetary CMEs", M.J. Reiner, M. L. Kaiser, J. Fainberg, J.-L Bougeret, R.G. Stone, Proceeding of the 31st ESLAB Symposium (ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, September 22-25), 1997.
5. "Type III Radio Source Located by Ulysses/WIND Triangulation", M. J. Reiner, J. Fainberg, M. L. Kaiser and R. G. Stone, JGR, 103, 1923-1931, 1998.
6. "Self-similar evolution of interplanetary magnetic clouds and Ulysses measurements of the polytropic index inside the cloud", Osherovich, V.A, J. Fainberg, R.G. Stone, R.J. MacDowall and D. Berdichevski , Proc. of Sun-Earth Correlated Phenomena, ESA, 1997.
