Closed Fluxtubes and Proton Conics in Jupiter’s Polar Cap
- 1Princeton University, Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton, United States of America (jszalay@princeton.edu)
- 2The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Maryland, USA
- 3University of Iowa, Iowa, USA
- 4Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
- 6Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
We present a discrete observation of diverse plasma populations and evidence of closed magnetic topology at Jupiter’s polar cap. Two distinct populations of protons are observed over Jupiter’s southern polar cap: a ~1 keV core population and ~1-300 keV dispersive conic population at 6-7 Jovian radii planetocentric distance. We find the 1 keV core protons are likely the seed population for the higher-energy dispersive conics. Transient wave-particle heating in a “pressure-cooker” process is likely responsible for this proton acceleration. The plasma characteristics and composition during this period show Jupiter's polar-most field lines can be topologically closed, with conjugate magnetic footpoints connected to both hemispheres. Finally, these observations demonstrate energetic protons can be accelerated into Jupiter's magnetotail via wave-particle coupling.
How to cite: Szalay, J., Clark, G., Livadiotis, G., McComas, D., Mitchell, D., Rankin, J., Sulaiman, A., Allegrini, F., Bagenal, F., Ebert, R., Gladstone, R., Kurth, B., Mauk, B., Valek, P., Wilson, R., and Bolton, S.: Closed Fluxtubes and Proton Conics in Jupiter’s Polar Cap, Europlanet Science Congress 2022, Granada, Spain, 18–23 Sep 2022, EPSC2022-741, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2022-741, 2022.
