Mani K Chettri
PhD Scholar in Physics
PhD Scholar at Sikkim University, studying kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence in space plasmas. My doctoral work involves pseudospectral simulations of nonlinear wave models (including modified Zakharov and NLSE frameworks) and multi-mission spacecraft data analysis using NASA MMS, Wind, Parker Solar Probe, and ISRO Aditya-L1, with a focus on understanding how energy dissipates at kinetic scales in the solar wind and magnetosphere.
ORCID: 0009-0000-1368-9263
Recent Work
Electromagnetic Signatures of KAW Turbulence at Ion Inertial Scales in Earth's High-β Magnetosheath
New preprint, submitted to Advances in Space Research (2026). arXiv:2605.25199 ↗
Inertial-Range Suppression and Ponderomotive Density Cavitation in Broadband Sub-Alfvénic Turbulence
Published in Journal of Subatomic Particles and Cosmology (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jspc.2026.100383 ↗
How Big Is the Sun? A Measurement from India's Aditya-L1 Spacecraft
Accepted in PANE Journal of Physics Education (2026). View Article ↗
PLASMAform: Interactive Space Plasma Formulary
Open-source browser tool for space plasma physics. Try it ↗
MMS Observations of KAW Turbulence in the Outer PSBL
Analysis of steep kinetic-range spectra (2026). arXiv:2603.07969 ↗
Research Interests
Kinetic Alfvén Wave Turbulence
Dispersive wave dynamics, energy cascades, spectral scaling at sub-ion scales
Nonlinear Wave Coupling
KAW and ion acoustic wave interactions via nonlinear amplitude equations
Spacecraft Data Analysis
Multi-mission studies using MMS, Wind, Parker Solar Probe, and Aditya-L1
Numerical Methods
Pseudospectral solvers, split-step Fourier, MPI-parallelised codes on HPC clusters
Magnetospheric Physics
Plasma sheet boundary layer dynamics, magnetosheath wave activity
Solar Wind Turbulence
Dissipation mechanisms, wave-particle interactions, turbulence anisotropy
Education
PhD in Physics
Sikkim University, Gangtok
Thesis: Numerical Study of Nonlinear Plasma Phenomena in the Heliosphere
MSc in Physics
Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology
Dissertation: The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and the Big Bang
BSc Physics (Honours)
Nar Bahadur Bhandari Degree College, Tadong
Research
My doctoral research focuses on kinetic Alfvén wave (KAW) turbulence in the heliosphere. The work involves pseudospectral simulations of nonlinear fluid and kinetic models to study the coupling of KAWs with ion acoustic and magnetosonic waves, with results validated against in-situ spacecraft measurements. The central question is how energy cascades from large MHD scales down to kinetic scales, where it is dissipated as plasma heating.
PhD Research Objectives
Numerical Simulations and Model Validation
Pseudospectral simulations of nonlinear plasma phenomena validated against Parker Solar Probe, Wind, and MMS observations.
KAW Turbulence in the Magnetosphere
Study of turbulent signatures of kinetic Alfvén waves in Earth's plasma sheet boundary layer and magnetosheath using simulations and MMS data.
Nonlinear Wave Coupling in the Inner Heliosphere
Investigation of coupled dynamics of KAWs and ion acoustic waves using two-fluid models and comparison with near-Sun spacecraft data.
Beta-Dependent Spectral Analysis
Exploring sensitivity of dispersive Alfvén waves to plasma beta across different heliospheric and magnetospheric regimes.
Methodology
Theoretical Models
Two-fluid MHD, modified Zakharov equations, kinetic theory, nonlinear Schrödinger formulations with Landau damping
Numerical Methods
Pseudospectral with 2/3-dealiasing, 4th-order Runge-Kutta, split-step Fourier, MPI-parallelised solvers on IUCAA HPC
Observational Validation
Multi-mission spacecraft data (MMS, Wind, PSP, Aditya-L1) via PySPEDAS; spectral and statistical comparison
Spacecraft Missions
MMS
Magnetospheric Multiscale
Wind
Solar wind at 1 AU
Parker Solar Probe
Inner heliosphere
Aditya-L1
L1 Lagrange point (ISRO)
Technical Skills
Programming
Python, Fortran, MATLAB, LaTeX, HTML/JS
Scientific Libraries
NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, PySPEDAS, mpi4py, mpi4py-fft
HPC and Parallel Computing
MPI parallelisation, IUCAA HPC cluster
Simulation Techniques
Pseudospectral, split-step Fourier, Runge-Kutta (RK4)
Journal Articles
Inertial-Range Suppression and Ponderomotive Density Cavitation in Broadband Sub-Alfvénic Turbulence under Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer Conditions
Chettri, M. K., Shrivastav, V., Singh, B., Mukherjee, R., & Singh, H. D. (2026). J. Subat. Part. Cosmol., 100383.
How Big Is the Sun? A Measurement from India's Aditya-L1 Spacecraft
Mukherjee, R., Chettri, M. K., Shrivastav, V., Singh, B., & Singh, H. D. (2026). P. J. Phys. Edu., 1(1), 60–74.
Nonlinear coupling of kinetic Alfvén waves and ion acoustic waves in the inner heliosphere
Chettri, M. K., Shrivastav, V., Mukherjee, R., Gaur, N., Sharma, R., & Singh, H. D. (2024). Res. Astron. Astrophys., 24(10), 105009.
Preprints
Electromagnetic signatures of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence at ion inertial scales in Earth's high-β magnetosheath
Chettri, M. K., Mukherjee, R., & Singh, H. D. (2026). arXiv:2605.25199.
Damped kinetic Alfvén waves in Earth's magnetosheath: numerical simulations and MMS observations
Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., Shrivastav, V., Singh, B., & Mukherjee, R. (2025). arXiv:2512.09828.
MMS observations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence and steep kinetic-range spectra in the outer plasma sheet boundary layer
Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., & Mukherjee, R. (2026). arXiv:2603.07969.
Suppression of two stream instability in relativistic electron-ion plasmas
Shrivastav, V., Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., & Mukherjee, R. (2025). arXiv:2508.14362.
Weibel instability in collisionless plasmas across astrophysical and laboratory shocks
Shrivastav, V., Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., Singh, B., & Mukherjee, R. (2026). arXiv:2603.12747.
Ion channel dynamics in temperature-dependent Weibel instability saturation
Shrivastav, V., Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., Singh, B., & Mukherjee, R. (2026). arXiv:2604.21875.
Linear-wave bound on electromagnetic energy equipartition at sub-electron scales in non-relativistic plasmas
Shrivastav, V., Chettri, M. K., Singh, B., Singh, H. D., & Mukherjee, R. (2026). arXiv:2604.18472.
Suppression of two-stream and Weibel instabilities in ultra-relativistic electron–positron plasma
Shrivastav, V., Chettri, M. K., Singh, H. D., Singh, B., & Mukherjee, R. (2026). SSRN 6502757.
A validated analysis workflow for near-Earth spacecraft plasma observations: methodology, quality controls, and systematic error assessment
Chettri, M. K., Shrivastav, V., Singh, B., Mukherjee, R., & Singh, H. D. (2026). SSRN 6394663.
Manuscripts in Preparation
- • Solar wind KAW turbulence using Wind spacecraft data with validated NLSE simulation framework
- • PLASMAform software paper for Journal of Open Research Software
Software
PLASMAform
An interactive web-based formulary for space plasma physics research.
46 formulas across 9 categories. Dedicated KAW diagnostics, instability thresholds, reconnection parameters, spacecraft environment presets for MMS, Wind, PSP, and Aditya-L1. Runs as a single HTML file with no installation required.
46
Formulas
10
KAW Diagnostics
5
Spacecraft Presets
4
Instabilities
Resources
Guides and reference materials prepared for the space physics research community. All resources are freely available.
PySPEDAS Installation Guide
Step-by-step installation instructions for PySPEDAS 2.x on Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows. Covers Python setup, virtual environments, PySPEDAS and pytplot installation, and verification. Includes a troubleshooting table for common issues.
PySPEDAS Fix and Migration Guide (v1.x to v2.x)
Detailed guide for updating existing PySPEDAS scripts from version 1.x to 2.x. Covers the reorganised mission import paths, the get_data migration from pytplot to pyspedas, a standard script template, pre-run checklist, and common error fixes.
Coming Soon
- • PySPEDAS data analysis tutorial for MMS burst-mode magnetic field and plasma data
- • Pseudospectral simulation setup guide for KAW turbulence studies
Activities
Conference Presentations
2026
Upcoming
European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics (EPS-2026)
Abstract accepted
2026
Oral
Trends in Science and Space Technology (TIST-2026)
Salesian College, Siliguri
Oral presentation: Damped Kinetic Alfvén Waves in Earth's Magnetosheath: Numerical Simulations and MMS Observations.
Jan 2026
Poster
5th Conference on Plasma Simulation (CPS-2026)
IPS Academy and IIT Indore, India
Poster on KAW turbulence simulations in the plasma sheet boundary layer with MMS comparison.
Dec 2025
Oral
XV PANE Conference 2025
Nagaland University, Lumami, India
Oral presentation: Turbulent Signatures of Kinetic Alfvén Waves in Earth's Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer.
Professional Memberships
American Physical Society (APS)
Division of Plasma Physics
European Geosciences Union (EGU)
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences (ST) Division
European Physical Society (EPS)
Individual Member
Workshops & Training
May 2026
Elsevier Researcher Academy
Certificates of Excellence · Online
Successfully completed modules in Research Ethics and Authorship.
Feb 2026
Training Programme on AI & ML in Space Exploration
India Space Academy (ISA), Viksit Bharat Abhiyan · 23–28 February 2026 · Online
Six-day online training programme on artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in space exploration, conducted under the Skill India initiative. Certificate No. ISA-1003033.
Dec 2025
Aditya-L1 Support Cell Workshop
IIT Jammu, India · Organised by ISRO
Three-day workshop on solar wind data analysis using Aditya-L1 data products (ASPEX, PAPA, MAG) through ISSDC/PRADAN.
Teaching
Science Teacher
St. Mary's Convent School, West Sikkim
Mathematics Tutor
Grace Academy, Gangtok
Leadership
President, Convention on Climate Change
Namchi Degree College
President, Physicist Meet
Manan Kendra, Gangtok
Contact
If you have questions about my work, are interested in a collaboration, or would like to discuss space plasma physics, please get in touch.
Details
Address
Department of Physics
School of Physical Sciences
Sikkim University
6th Mile, Samdur, P.O. Tadong
Gangtok, Sikkim 737102, India
Supervisors
Dr. Hemam Dinesh Singh (NSUT, New Delhi)
Dr. Rupak Mukherjee (Sikkim University, IUCAA)