Rami Vainio
Professor
Space physics, solar physics, astrophysics
I am a professor of space physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland, and the head of Space Research Laboratory (SRL), which performs experimental, theoretical and computational research on high-energy phenomena in near-Earth space. SRL continuously collaborates with several research groups in Finland and abroad and most of our research projects are joint efforts with a large number of researchers working on the same topics. SRL develops instrumentation for detecting energetic charged particles and numerical simulation codes to understand the propagation of charged particles through electromagnetic fields in space.
Solar energetic particles (SEPs). The Sun produces very energetic particles during solar eruptions, i.e., solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These outburst of energetic particles are called SEP events or solar particle events. Because they can penetrate thick layers of material, SEPs constitute a severe radiation risk to humans and electronics in space. Together with my research group and collaborators, I study the acceleration of SEPs close to the Sun and their transport in the interplanetary medium to near-Earth space and beyond, as well as the near-Earth radiation environment generated by SEPs.
Shock waves are transitions from supersonic to subsonic flow associated with compression (i.e., increase of density) and dissipation (i.e., conversion of ordered kinetic energy of the flow to random thermal energy). In ordinary gases, shocks have thicknesses of the order of the collisional mean free path of the molecular motion. In dilute space plasmas, binary collisions are too infrequent to account for the dissipation and re-distribution of energy. Instead, collective processes involving fluctuating electromagnetic fields take the role of collisions. Such shocks are termed collisionless shocks. In the absence of binary collisions, collisionless shocks generate energetic particle populations (such as SEPs) and together with my research group and collaborators, I focus on understanding this acceleration process in detail.
Interest areas: Space Physics, Plasma Physics, Astrophysics
Responsibilities: In charge of the Space Physics curriculum in the University of Turku.
Lecturing courses on Mathematical Methods in Physics II (BSc, 5 cp); Space Physics (BSc, 5 cp); Hydrodynamics and Hydromagnetics (MSc, 8 cp); Plasma Astrophysics (MSc, 8cp).
- A new method for determining the onset times of solar energetic particles and their uncertainties: Poisson-CUSUM bootstrap hybrid method (2025)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Palmroos, C.; Dresing, N.; Gieseler, J.; Gutiérrez, C. P.; Vainio, R.
- An Overview of Solar Orbiter Observations of Interplanetary Shocks in Solar Cycle 25 (2025)
- Astrophysical Journal Supplement
Trotta, Domenico; Dimmock, Andrew; Hietala, Heli; Blanco-Cano, Xochitl; Horbury, Timothy S.; Vainio, Rami; Dresing, Nina; Jebaraj, Immanuel Christopher; Lara, Francisco Espinosa; Gomez-Herrero, Raul; Rodriguez-Pacheco, Javier; Kartavykh, Yulia; Lario, David; Gieseler, Jan; Janvier, Miho; Maksimovic, Milan; Sheshvan, Nasrin Talebpour; Owen, Christopher J.; Kilpua, Emilia K. J.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
- Antiprotons and Elementary Particles over a Solar Cycle: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (2025) Aguilar, M.; Ambrosi, G.; Anderson, H.; Arruda, L.; Attig, N.; Bagwell, C.; Barao, F.; Barbanera, M.; Barrin, L.; Bartoloni, A.; Battiston, R.; Bayyari, A.; Belyaev, N.; Bertucci, B.; Bindi, V.; Bollweg, K.; Bolster, J.; Borchiellini, M.; Borgia, B.; Boschini, M. J.; Bourquin, M.; Brugnoni, C.; Burger, J.; Burger, W. J.; Cai, X. D.; Capell, M.; Casaus, J.; Castellini, G.; Cervelli, F.; Chang, Y. H.; Chen, G. M.; Chen, G. R.; Chen, H.; Chen, H. S.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, L.; Chou, H. Y.; Chouridou, S.; Choutko, V.; Chung, C. H.; Clark, C.; Coignet, G.; Consolandi, C.; Contin, A.; Corti, C.; Cui, Z.; Dadzie, K.; D’Angelo, F.; Dass, A.; Delgado, C.; Della Torre, S.; Demirköz, M. B.; Derome, L.; Di Falco, S.; Di Felice, V.; Díaz, C.; Dimiccoli, F.; von Doetinchem, P.; Dong, F.; Duranti, M.; Egorov, A.; Eline, A.; Faldi, F.; Fehr, D.; Feng, J.; Fiandrini, E.; Fisher, P.; Formato, V.; García-López, R. J.; Gargiulo, C.; Gast, H.; Gervasi, M.; Giovacchini, F.; Gómez-Coral, D. M.; Gong, J.; Grandi, D.; Graziani, M.; Haino, S.; Han, K. C.; Hashmani, R. K.; He, Z. H.; Heber, B.; Hernández-Nicolás, F.; Hsieh, T. H.; Hu, J. Y.; Huang, B. W.; Ionica, M.; Incagli, M.; Jia, Yi; Jinchi, H.; Karagöz, G.; Kirn, Th.; Klipfel, A. P.; Kounina, O.; Kounine, A.; Koutsenko, V.; Krasnopevtsev, D.; Kuhlman, A.; Kulemzin, A.; La Vacca, G.; Laudi, E.; Laurenti, G.; LaVecchia, G.; Lazzizzera, I.; Lee, H. T.; Lee, S. C.; Li, H. L.; Li, J. H.; Li, J. Q.; Li, M.; Li, M.; Li, Q.; Li, Q.; Li, Q. Y.; Li, S.; Li, S. L.; Li, Z. H.; Liang, M. J.; Liao, P.; Lin, C. H.; Lippert, T.; Liu, J. H.; Liu, P. C.; Lu, S. Q.; Lu, Y. S.; Luo, J. Z.; Luo, Q.; Luo, S. D.; Luo, Xi; Mañá, C.; Marín, J.; Marquardt, J.; Martínez, G.; Masi, N.; Maurin, D.; Medvedeva, T.; Menchaca-Rocha, A.; Meng, Q.; Mikhailov, V. V.; Molero, M.; Mott, P.; Mussolin, L.; Jozani, Y. Najafi; Nicolaidis, R.; Nikonov, N.; Nozzoli, F.; Ocampo-Peleteiro, J.; Oliva, A.; Orcinha, M.; Palmonari, F.; Paniccia, M.; Pashnin, A.; Pauluzzi, M.; Pelosi, D.; Pensotti, S.; Pietzcker, P.; Plyaskin, V.; Poluianov, S.; Pridöhl, D.; Qu, Z. Y.; Quadrani, L.; Rancoita, P. G.; Rapin, D.; Conde, A. Reina; Robyn, E.; Rodríguez-García, I.; Romaneehsen, L.; Rossi, F.; Rozhkov, A.; Rozza, D.; Sagdeev, R.; Schael, S.; von Dratzig, A. Schultz; Schwering, G.; Seo, E. S.; Shan, B. S.; Shukla, A.; Siedenburg, T.; Silvestre, G.; Song, J. W.; Song, X. J.; Sonnabend, R.; Strigari, L.; Su, T.; Sun, Q.; Sun, Z. T.; Tabarroni, L.; Tacconi, M.; Tang, Z. C.; Tian, J.; Tian, Y.; Ting, Samuel C. C.; Ting, S. M.; Tomassetti, N.; Torsti, J.; Ubaldi, A.; Urban, T.; Usoskin, I.; Vagelli, V.; Vainio, R.; Väisänen, P.; Valencia-Otero, M.; Valente, E.; Valtonen, E.; Acosta, M. Vázquez; Vecchi, M.; Velasco, M.; Wang, C. X.; Wang, J. C.; Wang, L.; Wang, L. Q.; Wang, N. H.; Wang, Q. L.; Wang, S.; Wang, X.; Wang, Z. M.; Wei, J.; Weng, Z. L.; Wu, H.; Wu, Y.; Wu, Z. B.; Xiao, J. N.; Xiong, R. Q.; Xiong, X. Z.; Xu, W.; Yan, Q.; Yang, H. T.; Yang, Y.; Yi, H.; You, Y. H.; Yu, Y. M.; Yu, Z. Q.; Zhang, C.; Zhang, F. Z.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, J. H.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, P. W.; Zheng, C.; Zheng, Z. M.; Zhuang, H. L.; Zhukov, V.; Zichichi, A.; Zuberi, M.; Zuccon, P.; AMS Collaboration
- Determining the acceleration regions of in situ electrons using remote radio and X-ray observations (2025)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Morosan, D. E.; Dresing, N.; Palmroos, C.; Gieseler, J.; Jebaraj, I. C.; Warmuth, A.; Fedeli, A.; Normo, S.; Pomoell, J.; Kilpua, E. K. J.; Zucca, P.; Dabrowski, B.; Krankowski, A.; Mann, G.; Vocks, C.; Vainio, R.
- Electron and proton peak intensities as observed by a five-spacecraft fleet in solar cycle 25 (2025)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Farwa, G. U.; Dresing, N.; Gieseler, J.; Vuorinen, L.; Richardson, I. G.; Palmroos, C.; Valkila, S.; Heber, B.; Jensen, S.; Kuehl, P.; Rodriguez-Garcia, L.; Vainio, R.
- Resolving spatial and temporal shock structures using LOFAR observations of type II radio bursts (2025)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Morosan, Diane E.; Jebaraj, Immanuel Christopher; Zhang, Peijin; Zucca, Pietro; Dabrowski, Bartosz; Gallagher, Peter T.; Krankowski, Andrzej; Vocks, Christian; Vainio, Rami
- Solar energetic particles injected inside and outside a magnetic cloud (2025)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Rodríguez-García, L.; Gómez-Herrero, R.; Dresing, N.; Balmaceda, L. A.; Palmerio, E.; Kouloumvakos, A.; Jebaraj, I. C.; Espinosa Lara, F.; Roco, M.; Palmroos, C.; Warmuth, A.; Nicolaou, G.; Mason, G. M.; Guo, J.; Laitinen, T.; Cernuda, I.; Nieves-Chinchilla, T.; Fedeli, A.; Lee, C. O.; Cohen, C. M. S.; Owen, C. J.; Ho, G. C.; Malandraki, O.; Vainio, R.; Rodríguez-Pacheco, J.
- Solar Modulation of Cosmic Nuclei over a Solar Cycle: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (2025) Aguilar, M.; Alpat, B.; Ambrosi, G.; Anderson, H.; Arruda, L.; Attig, N.; Bagwell, C.; Barao, F.; Barbanera, M.; Barrin, L.; Bartoloni, A.; Battiston, R.; Bayyari, A.; Belyaev, N.; Bertucci, B.; Bindi, V.; Bollweg, K.; Bolster, J.; Borchiellini, M.; Borgia, B.; Boschini, M. J.; Bourquin, M.; Brugnoni, C.; Burger, J.; Burger, W. J.; Burzillà, N.; Cai, X. D.; Capell, M.; Casaus, J.; Castellini, G.; Cervelli, F.; Chang, Y. H.; Chen, G. M.; Chen, G. R.; Chen, H.; Chen, H. S.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, L.; Chou, H. Y.; Chouridou, S.; Choutko, V.; Chung, C. H.; Clark, C.; Coignet, G.; Consolandi, C.; Contin, A.; Corti, C.; Cui, Z.; Dadzie, K.; D'Angelo, F.; Dass, A.; Delgado, C.; Della Torre, S.; Demirköz, M. B.; Derome, L.; Di Falco, S.; Di Felice, V.; Díaz, C.; Dimiccoli, F.; von Doetinchem, P.; Dong, F.; Duranti, M.; Egorov, A.; Eline, A.; Faldi, F.; Fehr, D.; Feng, J.; Fiandrini, E.; Fisher, P.; Formato, V.; García-López, R. J.; Gargiulo, C.; Gast, H.; Gervasi, M.; Giovacchini, F.; Gómez-Coral, D. M.; Gong, J.; Grandi, D.; Graziani, M.; Haino, S.; Han, K. C.; Hashmani, R. K.; He, Z. H.; Heber, B.; Hernández-Nicolás, F.; Hsieh, T. H.; Hu, J. Y.; Huang, B. W.; Ionica, M.; Incagli, M.; Jia, Y.; Jinchi, H.; Karagöz, G.; Kirn, T.; Klipfel, A. P.; Kounina, O.; Kounine, A.; Koutsenko, V.; Krasnopevtsev, D.; Kuhlman, A.; Kulemzin, A.; La Vacca, G.; Laudi, E.; Laurenti, G.; LaVecchia, G.; Lazzizzera, I.; Lee, H. T.; Lee, S. C.; Li, H. L.; Li, J. H.; Li, J. Q.; Li, M.; Li, M.; Li, Q.; Li, Q.; Li, Q. Y.; Li, S.; Li, S. L.; Li, Z. H.; Liang, M. J.; Liao, P.; Lin, C. H.; Lippert, T.; Liu, J. H.; Liu, P. C.; Liu, Z.; Lu, S. Q.; Lu, Y. S.; Luo, J. Z.; Luo, Q.; Luo, S. D.; Luo, X.; Mañá, C.; Marín, J.; Marquardt, J.; Martínez, G.; Masi, N.; Maurin, D.; Medvedeva, T.; Menchaca-Rocha, A.; Meng, Q.; Mikhailov, V. V.; Molero, M.; Mott, P.; Mussolin, L.; Jozani, Y. N.; Nicolaidis, R.; Nikonov, N.; Nozzoli, F.; Ocampo-Peleteiro, J.; Oliva, A.; Orcinha, M.; Palmonari, F.; Paniccia, M.; Pashnin, A.; Pauluzzi, M.; Pelosi, D.; Pensotti, S.; Pietzcker, P.; Plyaskin, V.; Poluianov, S.; Pridöhl, D.; Qu, Z. Y.; Quadrani, L.; Rancoita, P. G.; Rapin, D.; Conde, A. R.; Robyn, E.; Rodríguez-García, I.; Romaneehsen, L.; Rossi, F.; Rozhkov, A.; Rozza, D.; Sagdeev, R.; Schael, S.; von Dratzig, A. S.; Schwering, G.; Seo, E. S.; Shan, B. S.; Shukla, A.; Siedenburg, T.; Siemko, A.; Silvestre, G.; Song, J. W.; Song, X. J.; Sonnabend, R.; Strigari, L.; Su, T.; Sun, Q.; Sun, Z. T.; Tabarroni, L.; Tacconi, M.; Tang, Z. C.; Tian, J.; Tian, Y.; Ting, S. C. C.; Ting, S. M.; Tomassetti, N.; Torsti, J.; Ubaldi, A.; Urban, T.; Usoskin, I.; Vagelli, V.; Vainio, R.; Väisänen, P.; Valencia-Otero, M.; Valente, E.; Valtonen, E.; Vázquez Acosta, M.; Vecchi, M.; Velasco, M.; Wang, C. X.; Wang, J. C.; Wang, L.; Wang, L. Q.; Wang, N. H.; Wang, Q. L.; Wang, S.; Wang, X.; Wang, Z. M.; Wei, J.; Weng, Z. L.; Wu, H.; Wu, Y.; Wu, Z. B.; Xiao, J. N., Xiong, R. Q.; Xiong, X. Z.; Xu, W.; Yan, Q.; Yang, H. T.; Yang, Y.; Yi, H.; You, Y. H.; Yu, Y. M.; Yu, Z. Q.; Zhang, C.; Zhang, F. Z.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, J. H.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, P. W.; Zheng, C.; Zheng, Z. M.; Zhuang, H. L.; Zhukov, V.; Zichichi, A.; Zuberi, M.; Zuccon, P.; AMS Collaboration
- Towards advanced forecasting of solar energetic particle events with the PARASOL model (2025)
- Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
Afanasiev, Alexandr; Wijsen, Nicolas; Vainio, Rami
- Acceleration of Electrons and Ions by an ``Almost'' Astrophysical Shock in the Heliosphere (2024)
- Astrophysical Journal Letters
Jebaraj, Immanuel Christopher; Agapitov, Oleksiy; Krasnoselskikh, Vladimir; Vuorinen, Laura; Gedalin, Michael; Choi, Kyung-Eun; Palmerio, Erika; Wijsen, Nicolas; Dresing, Nina; Cohen, Christina; Kouloumvakos, Athanasios; Balikhin, Michael; Vainio, Rami; Kilpua, Emilia; Afanasiev, Alexandr; Verniero, Jaye; Mitchell, John Grant; Trotta, Domenico; Hill, Matthew; Raouafi, Nour; Bale, Stuart D.
- Advanced Radiation Monitoring Solution for New Space Applications (2024) 31st IAA Symposium on Small Satellite Missions: Held at the 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2024) Lehti, Jussi; Raman, Deepa Anantha; Oleynik, Philipp; Raukunen, Osku; Säntti, Tero; Virtanen, Pasi; Hirvonen, Mika; Tiensuu, Kiira; Vainio, Rami
- Characterizing High-Energy Solar Proton Events with Energies Below and Above 100 MeV (2024) Ameri, Dheyaa; Valtonen, Eino; Al-Sawad, Amjad; Vainio, Rami
- Connecting remote and in situ observations of shock-accelerated electrons associated with a coronal mass ejection (2024)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Morosan D, Pomoell J, Palmroos C, Dresing N, Asvestari E, Vainio R, Kilpua E, Gieseler J, Kumari A, Jebaraj I
- Consistency of the average flux of solar energetic particles over different timescales up to mega-years (2024)
- POS Proceedings of Science
Proceedings of 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2023) Usoskin, Ilya; Koldobskiy, Sergey; Pouianov, Stepan; Raukunen, Osku; Vainio, Rami; Kovaltsov, Gennady
- Cross-field Diffusion Effects on Particle Transport in a Solar Coronal Flux Rope (2024)
- Astrophysical Journal Letters
Husidic Edin; Wijsen Nicolas; Linan Luis; Brchnelova Michaela; Vainio Rami; Poedts Stefaan
- Effects of adiabatic focusing and free-escape boundaries in coronal shock acceleration (2024)
- Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
Annie John, Lidiya; Nyberg, Seve; Vuorinen, Laura; Vainio, Rami; Afanasiev, Alexandr; Poedts, Stefaan; Wijsen, Nicolas
- Energetic particle acceleration and transport with the novel Icarus plus PARADISE model (2024)
- Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
Husidic Edin, Wijsen Nicolas, Baratashvili Tinatin, Poedts Stefaan, Vainio Rami
- Energetic seed particles in self-consistent particle acceleration modeling at interplanetary shock waves (2024)
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Nyberg, S.; Vuorinen, L.; Afanasiev, A.; Trotta, D.; Vainio, R.
- New reconstruction of annual integral solar proton fluences between 1984--2019 (2024)
- POS Proceedings of Science
Proceedings of 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2023) Usoskin, Ilya; Raukunen, Osku; Koldobskiy, Sergey; Kovaltsov, Gennady; Vainio, Rami
- Observation of a Fully-formed Forward-Reverse Shock Pair due to the Interaction between Two Coronal Mass Ejections at 0.5 au (2024) Trotta, Domenico; Dimmock, Andrew P.; Blanco-Cano, Xochitl; Forsyth, Robert J.; Hietala, Heli; Fargette, Naïs; Larosa, Andrea; Lugaz, Noé; Palmerio, Erika; Good, Simon W.; Soljento, Juska E.; Kilpua, Emilia K. J.; Yordanova, Emiliya; Pezzi, Oreste; Nicolaou, Georgios; Horbury, Timothy S.; Vainio, Rami; Dresing, Nina; Owen, Christopher J.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
