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Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Leon Ofman

(ASTROPHYSICIST)

Leon Ofman's Contact Card & Information.
Email: leon.ofman-1@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.9913
Org Code: 671
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 671
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: CATHOLIC UNIV OF AMERICA

Brief Bio

Prof. Leon Ofman received his B.Sc. in Physics in 1986 and M.Sc. in Physics in 1988 from Tel Aviv University, Israel, and his Ph.D. in Physics in 1992 from the University of Texas at Austin. He held National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associateship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from 1992 to 1994. Since 1994 Prof. Ofman continued working at NASA GSFC, as a contractor via Hughes and Raytheon corporations, and in 2001 he became a Research Associate Professor at Catholic University of America, Associate Professor (2005-2007), and a university affiliate at NASA GSFC to present. From 2007 Prof. Ofman became Visiting Associate Professor at Tel Aviv University. In 2009 Prof. Ofman became Research Professor at CUA’s Department of Physics and Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences (IACS). His main research interests are in solar plasma physics, MHD, waves and instabilities, and kinetic processes related to coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. His main expertise is in numerical modeling of the solar coronal and wind plasma, driven by space based observations. Prof. Ofman has authored and coauthored over 150 publications in solar physics and related fields in refereed journals, and in conference proceeding. Prof. Ofman is the Principal Investigator on NASA and NSF grants supervising postdocs and students that work in solar physics. Prof. Ofman was a member of NASA Science Definition Team for the Solar Probe Plus mission. He is serving as a referee for leading journals in the field, and a reviewer for US and international science funding agencies. Prof. Ofman is a member of the AAS/SPD, AGU, IAU, and COSPAR.

Selected Publications

Refereed

2025. "Modeling Hot, Anisotropic Ion Beams in the Solar Wind Motivated by the Parker Solar Probe Observations near Perihelia.", The Astrophysical Journal, 984 (2): 174 [10.3847/1538-4357/adc812] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Origins of Very Low Helium Abundance Streams Detected in the Solar Wind Plasma.", The Astrophysical Journal, 977 (1): 89 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad84d6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Understanding the Variability of Helium Abundance in the Solar Corona Using Three-fluid Modeling and Ultraviolet Observations.", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 970 (1): L16 [10.3847/2041-8213/ad5e7e] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Observations and Modeling of Unstable Proton and α Particle Velocity Distributions in Sub-Alfvénic Solar Wind at Parker Solar Probe Perihelia.", The Astrophysical Journal, 954 (2): 109 [10.3847/1538-4357/acea7e] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Critical Solar Wind Measurements Required For the Next Generation Space Weather Prediction Mission: Science Motivation for the Seven Sisters Mission.", Bulletin of the AAS, [10.3847/25c2cfeb.1279e7ca] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Nonlinear Fast Magnetosonic Waves in Solar Prominence Pillars.", Astrophysical Journal, 944 210 [10.3847/1538-4357/acb13b] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Modeling Ion Beams, Kinetic Instabilities, and Waves Observed by the Parker Solar Probe near Perihelia.", The Astrophysical Journal, 926 (2): 185 [10.3847/1538-4357/ac402c] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Oblique High Mach Number Heliospheric Shocks: The Role of α Particles.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 126 (5): e2020JA028962 [10.1029/2020ja028962] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Fast Magnetosonic Waves and Flows in a Solar Prominence Foot: Observations and Modeling.", The Astrophysical Journal, 899 (2): 99 [10.3847/1538-4357/aba2eb] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Understanding the Role of α Particles in Oblique Heliospheric Shock Oscillations.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 124 (4): 2393-2405 [Full Text] [10.1029/2018ja026301] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Motions in Prominence Barbs Observed on the Solar Limb.", The Astrophysical Journal, 859 (2): 121 [10.3847/1538-4357/aabe90] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Growth and nonlinear saturation of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves in multi-ion species magnetospheric plasma.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 122 [10.1002/2017ja024172] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "The effects of inhomogeneous proton-α drifts on the heating of the solar wind.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 122 [10.1002/2016ja023705] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "HαDoppler shifts in a tornado in the solar corona.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 597 A109 [10.1051/0004-6361/201628771] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Inference of magnetic field in the coronal streamer invoking kink wave motions generated by multiple EUV waves.", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 463 (2): 1409-1415 [10.1093/mnras/stw2017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Slow Solar Wind: Observations and Modeling.", Space Science Reviews, 201 (1-4): 55-108 [10.1007/s11214-016-0264-1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "MHD Waves in the Solar Wind (Chapter 14).", Low-Frequency Waves in Space Plasmas, Geophysical Monograph 216, 241-252 [10.1002/9781119055006.ch14] [Article in Book]

2015. "STABILITY OF ROTATING MAGNETIZED JETS IN THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. I. KELVIN–HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY.", The Astrophysical Journal, 813 (2): 123 [10.1088/0004-637x/813/2/123] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Nonlinear MHD Waves in a Prominence Foot.", Astrophysical Journal, 813 124 [10.1088/0004-637X/813/2/124] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Three-dimensional MHD modeling of vertical kink oscillations in an active region plasma curtain.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 582 A75 [10.1051/0004-6361/201425054] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "EVIDENCE OF THERMAL CONDUCTION SUPPRESSION IN A SOLAR FLARING LOOP BY CORONAL SEISMOLOGY OF SLOW-MODE WAVES.", The Astrophysical Journal, 811 (1): L13 [10.1088/2041-8205/811/1/l13] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Relative drifts and temperature anisotropies of protons andαparticles in the expanding solar wind: 2.5D hybrid simulations.", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 578 A85 [10.1051/0004-6361/201424401] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "ION HEATING IN INHOMOGENEOUS EXPANDING SOLAR WIND PLASMA: THE ROLE OF PARALLEL AND OBLIQUE ION-CYCLOTRON WAVES.", The Astrophysical Journal, 799 (1): 77 [10.1088/0004-637x/799/1/77] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Three-dimensional multi-fluid model of a coronal streamer belt with a tilted magnetic dipole.", Annales Geophysicae, 33 (1): 47-53 [10.5194/angeo-33-47-2015] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Two-dimensional hybrid models of H+-He++expanding solar wind plasma heating.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 119 (6): 4223-4238 [10.1002/2013ja019590] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Advances in Observing Various Coronal EUV Waves in the SDO Era and Their Seismological Applications (Invited Review).", Solar Physics, 289 (9): 3233-3277 [10.1007/s11207-014-0528-4] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Rippled quasi-perpendicular collisionless shocks: Local and global normals.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 118 (10): 5999-6006 [10.1002/2013ja018780] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Turbulent heating and acceleration of He++ions by spectra of Alfvén-cyclotron waves in the expanding solar wind: 1.5-D hybrid simulations.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 118 (6): 2842-2853 [10.1002/jgra.50363] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Two-dimensional hybrid simulations of quasi-perpendicular collisionless shock dynamics: Gyrating downstream ion distributions.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 118 (5): 1828-1836 [10.1029/2012ja018188] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "MEASURING TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT PROPAGATING DISTURBANCES IN CORONAL FAN LOOPS USING MULTIPLE SDO/AIA CHANNELS AND THE SURFING TRANSFORM TECHNIQUE.", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 778 [10.1088/0004-637X/778/1/26] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC MODELING OF PROPAGATING DISTURBANCES IN FAN-LIKE CORONAL LOOPS.", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS, 775 [10.1088/2041-8205/775/1/L23] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "STOCHASTIC COUPLING OF SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE AND CORONA.", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 769 [10.1088/0004-637X/769/1/62] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "GLOBAL CORONAL SEISMOLOGY IN THE EXTENDED SOLAR CORONA THROUGH FAST MAGNETOSONIC WAVES OBSERVED BY STEREO SECCHI COR1.", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 776 [10.1088/0004-637X/776/1/55] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "STEREO OBSERVATIONS OF FAST MAGNETOSONIC WAVES IN THE EXTENDED SOLAR CORONA ASSOCIATED WITH EIT/EUV WAVES.", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 766 [10.1088/0004-637X/766/1/55] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Energy Release from Impacting Prominence Material Following the 2011 June 7 Eruption.", The Astrophysical Journal, 776 [L12-10.1088/2041-8205/776/1/L12] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "PERSISTENT DOPPLER SHIFT OSCILLATIONS OBSERVED WITH HINODE /EIS IN THE SOLAR CORONA: SPECTROSCOPIC SIGNATURES OF ALFVÉNIC WAVES AND RECURRING UPFLOWS.", The Astrophysical Journal, 759 (2): 144 [10.1088/0004-637x/759/2/144] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Hybrid simulation of the shock wave trailing the Moon.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 117 (A8): [10.1029/2011ja017358] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "QUASI-PERIODIC FAST-MODE WAVE TRAINS WITHIN A GLOBAL EUV WAVE AND SEQUENTIAL TRANSVERSE OSCILLATIONS DETECTED BYSDO/AIA.", The Astrophysical Journal, 753 (1): 52 [10.1088/0004-637x/753/1/52] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Growing Transverse Oscillations of a Multistranded Loop Observed by SDO/AIA.", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 751 ( 2): L27 [10.1088/2041-8205/751/2/L27] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Slow Magnetosonic Waves and Fast Flows in Active Region Loops.", The Astrophysical Journal, 754 [111-10.1088/0004-637X/754/2/111] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2023. "Enabling Discoveries in Heliospheric Science through Laboratory Plasma Experiments.", Bulletin of the AAS, [10.3847/25c2cfeb.c2b0c4e5] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Next Generation Machine to Study Heliophysics in the Laboratory.", Bulletin of the AAS, [10.3847/25c2cfeb.ea84c45e] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Evidence of thermal conduction suppression in hot coronal loops: supplementary results.", Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 11 (S320): 202-208 [10.1017/s1743921316000326] [Journal Article/Letter]

Contact Us

For general inquiries about the Sciences and Exploration Directorate.

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301-286-6066 jocelyn.m.lynch@nasa.gov
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301-286-6066 ellie.jeffries@nasa.gov
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