Ion Composition and Electron Pitch Angle Variations for Interchange Events in Jupiter's Inner Magnetosphere
Abstract The outward transport of plasma and magnetic fluxes in the gas giant magnetospheres is balanced with a return flow of flux tubes emptied through magnetic reconnection. Evidence of interchange motions between inward and outward moving flux tubes have long been reported around Jupiter and Saturn. Although amply documented at Saturn, the lack of useable low energy plasma data has prevented the analysis of their plasma properties at Jupiter. The Juno data sets allow us to characterize the plasma populations inside nine interchange events at Jupiter between M‐shells 5 and 10. We confirm that they are strongly depleted in heavy ions and low energy protons and electrons, but filled with higher energy protons and electrons. We model the pitch‐angle distribution of trapped electrons through adiabatic transport and estimate that the reported flux tubes were likely isotropic between M‐shells 11 and 35. The observed features bear strong similarities with their Kronian counterparts.
Authors
- Yuxian Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8736-5541)
- Jianzhao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0259-1858)
- Quentin Nénon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8130-9832)
- P. Louarn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2783-0808)
- B. H. Mauk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9789-3797)
- F. Allegrini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0696-4380)
- Michel Blanc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1290-7350)
- F. Bagenal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3963-1614)
- W. S. Kŭrth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5471-6202)
- Zhi‐Yang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3800-1044)
- J. E. P. Connerney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7478-6462)
- R. W. Ebert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2504-4320)
- P. W. Valek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2318-8750)
- G. A. DiBraccio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2778-4998)
- S. J. Bolton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9115-0789)
- Nicolás André (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8017-5676)
- J. R. Szalay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2685-9801)
- Marie Devinat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3387-9998)
- E. Penou
- R. J. Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9276-2368)
- Giuliano Vinci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7203-1112)
Institutions
- University of Iowa (US)
- Southwest Research Institute (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR)
- Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) (FR)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Princeton University (US)
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (FR)
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US)
- National Space Science Center (CN)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna (IT)
- Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (FR)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (FR)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio (US)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2025-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl116114
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.15
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration