An overview of Jovian electrons during the distant Ulysses Jupiter flyby

Abstract

Since the 1970's interplanetary electrons in the MeV energy range, of Jovian origin, have been extensively studied from close to the Sun to beyond the Kronian orbit, near the ecliptic. The Ulysses trajectory allowed to study the propagation of these particles, in a wide range of heliographic latitudes. The location of Jupiter with respect to the structure of the heliospheric magnetic field is precisely determined and non-central. This makes Jovian electrons an ideal opportunity for studying the particle propagation parallel and perpendicular to the heliospheric magnetic field. 12 years after its first encounter in February 1992, the Ulysses mission encountered Jupiter for a second time in February 2004 at a distance of 1684 Jovian radii. The first flyby took place at a distance of closest approach of 6 Jupiter radii ( R J ) and changed the inclination of the Ulysses trajectory so that it would pass above the Sun's polar regions. During the 2004 encounter, in contrast to 1992, Ulysses did not enter the Jovian magnetosphere but remained upstream of it. In mid 2002, the MeV electron flux started increasing and displaying large short term variations. These features lasted throughout the encounter, making the electron intensities less obviously correlated with the proximity to Jupiter compared with the first Jovian encounter. In previous studies it has been shown that the diffusion coefficient κ ⊥ , ϑ perpendicular to the heliospheric magnetic field in polar direction increased in 1998 during the transition from solar minimum to solar maximum close to the ecliptic plane. Although the distant Ulysses encounter took place during the declining phase of the solar cycle the absence of an intensity variation with latitude indicate an unexpected further increase of κ ⊥ , ϑ . Thus the diffusion coefficients, and in particular perpendicular diffusion in the polar direction, are highly time-dependent. In this paper, we present the corresponding data and discuss the implication for particle propagation in the three-dimensional heliospheric magnetic field.