Characteristics of hot plasma in the Jovian magnetosphere: Results from the Voyager spacecraft

Abstract

The low‐energy charged particle (LECP) experiment on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft made measurements of the intensity, energy spectra, angular distributions, and composition of ions (30 keV ≲E ≲150 MeV) and electrons (14 keV ≲E ≲10 MeV) during encounters with the Jovian magnetosphere in 1979. Detailed analysis of the multicomponent (H, He, O, S) low‐energy (∼30 keV to ∼4 MeV) ion population reveals the Jovian environment to be dominated by magnetospheric ions to distances ≳200 RJ upstream and ≳350 RJ downstream from the planet. Inside the magnetosphere, ions move generally in the sense of corotation to the dayside magnetopause, and on the nightside to distances of ∼130–150 Rj, beyond this distance, but inside the magnetopause, ion flow abruptly changes to an antisunward, anti‐Jupiter direction and continues to large (>350 RJ) radial distances outside the magnetosphere. The ion particle spectrum is characterized by a nonthermal power law (E−γ) component for E ≳200 keV, and a convected Maxwellian for E ≲200 with characteristic temperatures (kT) of ∼20‐45 keV. Temperature maxima generally coincide with crossings of the Jovian plasma sheet, while at higher energies spectra become softer at the equator. The ion spectra and composition are affected strongly by convective flows in all parts of the magnetosphere. By using the observed spectra and angular distributions, density and pressure profiles are produced for ions measured above the lowest LECP detector threshold (E ≳30 keV) and are compared with reported ambient total electron densities and magnetic field pressures. The particle pressures are found to be comparable to magnetic field pressures to at least ∼10 RJ, i.e., Jovian magnetosphere dynamics are determined by pressure variations in a high β plasma. Energetic ion densities are found to be comparable with the total electron densities in the outer (≳40 RJ) dayside magnetosphere but are generally lower at smaller radial distances and exhibit substantial variability. We interpret the hot plasma outflow on the nightside of Jupiter as a ‘magnetospheric wind' and estimate the mass and energy loss through this region at ∼2 × 1027 ions/s and ∼2 × 1020 ergs/s, respectively. We find the plasma source from the active volcanoes on Io to be adequate for supplying the mass outflow; only the rotational kinetic energy of Jupiter is sufficient to provide the energy in the flow, although energy from the solar wind interaction can perhaps contribute a significant fraction. A phenomenological model of Jupiter's magnetosphere is presented which accounts for the observations.