A statistical study of the features of ion acceleration events in the Jovian magnetotail using Juno/JEDI data

Abstract

Planetary magnetospheres across our solar system are known to be very efficient accelerators of charged particles. Moreover, the energization processes of magnetotail plasma populations are thought to share similarities among the various magnetospheres. In the present study, we focus on the Jovian magnetosphere, which contains a variety of ion species with different charge states, resulting in a diverse set of acceleration-relevant factors that can be tested. Therefore, we investigate the features of ion acceleration processes in the Jovian magnetosphere, utilizing measurements from the Juno mission. In particular, we use magnetic field data from the MAG instrument, and energetic ion data from the JEDI instrument, in order to investigate the energization of hydrogen (~50 keV to ~1 MeV), oxygen (~170 keV to ~2 MeV) and sulfur (~170 keV to ~4MeV) ions during dipolarization events in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Here, we present a statistical study of the characteristics of ion acceleration processes in the Jovian magnetotail, such as the maximum energy of each ion species, as well as the Magnetic Local Time (MLT) position and radial distance for each event. Results of our study are a first step towards a comparative analysis of energization processes around dipolarization events in the magnetotails of Earth and Jupiter.