Dust motion in Jupiter's tilted magnetic field

Abstract

We outline an analytical method for studying the motion of charged dust particles that orbit an oblate planet having a tilted, offset, dipolar magnetic field. Our computed trajectories closely mimic previous numerical results; equilibrium dust potentials must be less then 10 volts or the Jovian ring would be thicker than observed. We identify several Lorentz resonances , where the periods of components of the Lorentz force, as seen by a reference particle moving in the equatorial plane, match the particle's orbital period; several seem to be near observed features of the Jovian ring system.