Yao, Z; Dunn, WR; Woodfield, EE; Clark, G; Mauk, BH; Ebert, RW; Grodent, D; ... Bolton, SJ; + view all Yao, Z; Dunn, WR; Woodfield, EE; Clark, G; Mauk, BH; Ebert, RW; Grodent, D; Bonfond, B; Pan, D; Rae, IJ; Ni, B; Guo, R; Branduardi-Raymont, G; Wibisono, AD; Rodriguez, P; Kotsiaros, S; Ness, J-U; Allegrini, F; Kurth, WS; Gladstone, GR; Kraft, R; Sulaiman, AH; Manners, H; Desai, RT; Bolton, SJ; - view fewer (2021) Revealing the source of Jupiter's x-ray auroral flares. Science Advances , 7 (28) , Article eabf0851. 10.1126/sciadv.abf0851.

Preview

Text Branduardi Raymont_eabf0851.full.pdf - Published Version Download (766kB) | Preview

Abstract

Jupiter's rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic processes governing magnetospheres but seemingly unique to Jupiter. Since their discovery 40 years ago, the processes that produce Jupiter's x-ray flares have remained unknown. Here, we report simultaneous in situ satellite and space-based telescope observations that reveal the processes that produce Jupiter's x-ray flares, showing surprising similarities to terrestrial ion aurora. Planetary-scale electromagnetic waves are observed to modulate electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, periodically causing heavy ions to precipitate and produce Jupiter's x-ray pulses. Our findings show that ion aurorae share common mechanisms across planetary systems, despite temporal, spatial, and energetic scales varying by orders of magnitude.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as JSONXMLCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item