Press ReleaseAug 16, 2019
Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS)
Division of Plasma Physics (AAPPS-DPP)

Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics– Professors Liu Chen and Kazunari Shibata are selected as 6th (2019) Laureates –The Division of Plasma Physics (Chair: Mitsuru Kikuchi) under the Associationof Asia Pacific Physical Societies (President: Gui-Lu Long) has selected Professor
Liu Chen of the Zhejiang University/University of California, Irvine and Professor
Kazunari Shibata of Kyoto University as the 6 (2019) Laureates of S. Chandrasekhar
Prize of Plasma Physics, which is awarded to scientists who have made seminal /pioneering contributions in the field of plasma physics.
thCitations
Liu Chen：For his pioneering and seminal theoretical contributions to physics ofboth magnetic fusion and space plasmas; including, notably, geomagnetic pulsation
theory, nonlinear gyrokinetic theory, Alfvén wave heating and kinetic Alfvén waves,toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes, "fishbone" and energetic particle modes, and excitationof zonal flow in toroidal plasmas.
Kazunari Shibata: For his pioneering and seminal contributions in solar andastrophysical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), including the first non-steady MHD
numerical simulations of astrophysical jets from magnetic accretion disks, thediscovery of coronal X-ray jets and chromospheric anemone jets in the solar
atmosphere and theories and numerical simulations for solar jets and mass ejections
based on the MHD reconnection mechanism, his pioneering proposal ofplasmoid-induced-reconnection and fractal reconnection, and his suggestion thatsuperflares, observed on Sun-like stars, may also occur on the Sun.
Contact points：
AAPPS-DPP Chairman and CEO, Mitsuru Kikuchi(AAPPS-DPP Association Inc.)
TEL: +81-80-115-3482, E-mail: aapps.dpp.ceo@gmail.com
AAPPS-DPP Executive Officer, Haruo Nagai
TEL: 080-1096-4575
AAPPS-DPP Homepage Address：http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/index.html

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On the achievements of Professor Liu Chen
Prof. Liu Chen was born in 1946 at Hangzhou, received his
Bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University in 1966, and took hisPh. D thesis at University of California, Berkeley in 1972. After working
at Bell Laboratory with A. Hasegawa, he worked in Princeton Plasma
Physics Laboratory (PPPL) (1974-1993). Then, he moved to UC Irvine asProfessor (1993-2012) and since 2012 he is above-scale professor ofphysics (Emeritus). He founded the Institute of Fusion Theory andSimulation at Department of Physics, Zhejiang University in 2006 and,since 2016, he has been the Director Emeritus.
He published a celebrated paper (JGR1974) with A. Hasegawa at
Bell laboratory on the theory of experimentally observed Long-Period
Magnetic Pulsation in the magnetosphere as a coupling between the solar
Professor Liu Chenwind perturbations at the magnetopause and the shear Alfvén waves. This
paper has received 940 WoS citations and 1145 Google citations.
He developed a nonlinear gyrokinetic equation with E. Frieman in PPPL (Phys. Fluids1982);
which averages out fast gyro motion to arrive at a kinetic equation for low frequency
electromagnetic waves. Nowadays, the nonlinear gyrokinetic equation is one of the most powerfulequations in plasma physics. This paper has received 523 WoS citations and 770 Google citations.
He also discovered key physics of Alfvén waves such as Alfvén waves heating through spatialresonance (PRL1974, Phys.Fluids1974) and kinetic Alfvén wave (PRL1975, Phys. Fluids1976)
with A. Hasegawa; as well as Alfvén wave – energetic particle interactions such as “Fishbone”
oscillation as energetic particle-driven internal kink mode (PRL1984), prediction of EPM(Energetic particle mode) in the Alfvén continuum (Phys. Plasmas1994), and Alfvén eigenmode as
the discrete gap mode (Ann. Phys. 1985).
He also successfully developed a theory of zonal flow driven by drift-wave turbulence intoroidal plasma using ballooning representation as a key mechanism of self-regulation of plasma
turbulence (Phys. Plasmas2000).
His total citation is 10, 868 in Web of Science with H-index=54 and is 14,082 in Google
Scholar citation with H-index=61. Due to his outstanding research accomplishments illustrated
above, he is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards; notably, J.C. Maxwell Prize fromAmerican Physical Society in 2012 and Hannes Alfvén Prize from European Physical Society in2008.

Fig. 1 Liu Chen’s Magnetic Pulsation Theory

Fig. 2 Liu Chen’s “Fishbone Mode” Theory2

Press Release
On the achievements of Professor Kazunari Shibata

Professor KazunariShibata

Prof. Kazunari Shibata was born in 1954 at Osaka and got his
PhD degree at Kyoto University in 1983. After working at Aichi
University of Education and National Astronomical Observatory ofJapan for 16 years, he has been a professor at Kwasan and Hida
Observatory of Kyoto University since 1999. From 2004, he has been
Director of Kwasan and Hida Observatory until this March (2019). He
served for community as President of Astronomical Society of Japan
during 2017-2019.
He discovered the physical origin of astrophysical jets incollaboration with Prof. Uchida (PASJ1985, PASJ1986), i.e., theastrophysical jets are accelerated by the strong Lorentz force associatedwith the twisted magnetic field in the accretion disk. He also
demonstrated the same mechanism working for the relativistic jets fromblack holes (Science 2002).
He discovered X-ray jets in the solar corona (as seen in the left panel of Figure 1) and X-ray
plasmoid ejections from solar flares using the soft X-ray data observed by the Yohkoh satellite(PASJ1992, ApJL1995). He then developed a magnetic reconnection model of coronal X-ray jets(Nature1995) (as seen in the right panel of Figure 1). More recently, he discovered smaller
anemone-shape jets in the solar chromosphere using the Hinode satellite data (Science2007). He
proposed a unified model, i.e., plasmoid-induced magnetic reconnection model, to explain all kindsof jets, solar flares, and even corona mass ejections (CMEs). The model has been recognizedworld-widely. His unified reconnection model of solar flares, especially of jets, has revolutionized
our understanding of solar eruptions.
In recent years, he has been focusing on superflares on solar-type stars (as seen in Figure 2),and found that superflares of 1000 times more energetic than the currently-largest solar flares may
occur once in 5000 years on the Sun! The result has a strong impact on the public.
Prof. Kazunari Shibata has published more than 290 papers in refereed journals. According
to Google scholar, these papers have been cited more than 21,000 times, and his H-index is 78. His
total citation in Web of Science is ~14,000 and his H-index is 64. He has also trained tens of PhD
students and many postdocs from Japan and other Asian-Pacific countries, e.g., China and India. He
is the recipient of FY2001 Chushiro Hayashi Prize of Astronomical Society of Japan.

Fig. 1. Left: A soft X-ray jet in the solar corona; Right:
Theoretical model3

Fig. 2. An imaginary superflareoccurring on a solar-type starPress Release
Appendix-1: Certificates of 2019 S. Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics
Certificate and medal will be given at the 14th Asia-Pacific Physics Conference in November 20 atKuching, Malaysia.

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Appendix-2: Glossary
1. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Astrophysicist born in India. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his theoreticalstudies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of stars, including theChandrasekhar limit on the mass of white dwarf stars. His research covered several broad areas, asseen from his texts, which included Principles of Stellar Dynamics (1942), Hydrodynamics andHydromagnetic Stability (1981), and an influential book based on his lecture notes in Plasma
Physics (1960).

2. AAPPS: Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies（HP: http://www.aapps.org/main/index.php）
The Association of physical societies in the Asia Pacific region founded by the Nobel Laureate in
Physics C.N. Yang, and Professor Akito Arima in 1983. The AAPPS held the 12 Asia PacificPhysics Conference under the president (at that time) Shoji Nagamiya in Makuhari, Japan. The
current president is Professor Gui-Lu Long, Tsinghua University, China.
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3. AAPPS-DPP: Division of Plasma Physics, AAPPS（HP : http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/index.html ）The first division under the AAPPS based on the success of the plasma physics program in theAPPC-12. This division was formed in January 2014 based on the recommendation of Professor
Nagamiya at the AAPPS council. From Nov 28, 2018, AAPPS-DPP becomes legal entity.

4. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics is a top plasma physics prize founded by
the AAPPS-DPP in July 2014 and is endorsed by AAPPS. This prize is given to a plasma physicist
annually for pioneering and/or seminal contribution to plasma physics. The prize recipients wereProfessor S. Ichimaru (2014), Professor P. Kaw (2015), Professor D. Melrose (2016), Professors
C.Z.
ChengandLouC.
Lee(2017)
andToshiki
Tajima(2018)(http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/prizetable.html). The 2019 prize is sponsored by ENN Energy
Research Institute, Top Globe Foundation, and supported by Sarawak Convention Bureau.
The 2019 Selection Committee composed of leading plasma physicists in Asia-Pacific region.
Chairman : Professor Donald Melrose (University of Sydney)
Members : Professor Sanae I. Itoh (Kyusho University),
Professor Yasushi Ono (The University of Tokyo),
Professor Ding Li (Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science),
Professor Guosheng Xu (Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Science),
Professor Yong-Seok Hwang (Seoul National University)
Professor Jungyeon Cho (Chungnam National University
Professor Robert Dewar (Australian National University)
Professor Ravindra Kumar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)
Professor G.C. Anupama (Indian Institute of Astrophysics)
Professor Lin Ni Hau (National Central University)
Professor Kerchung Shaing (National Cheng Kung University)

5. H-index:

The definition of the index is that a scholar with an index of H has published H papers each ofwhich has been cited in other papers at least H times

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