Heavy ion charge states in Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere inferred from auroral megavolt electric potentials

Abstract

<p>In this presentation, we exploit the charge-dependent nature of field-aligned potentials in Jupiter’s polar cap auroral region to infer the charge states of energetic oxygen and sulfur. To-date, there are very limited and sparse measurements of the > 50 keV oxygen and sulfur charge states, yet many studies have demonstrated their importance in understanding the details of various physical processes, such as, X-ray aurora, ion-neutral interactions in Jupiter’s neutral cloud and particle acceleration theories. In this contribution, we develop a technique to determine the most abundant charge states associated with heavy ions in Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere. We find that O<sup>+</sup> and S<sup>++</sup> are the most abundant and therefore iogenic in origin. The results are important because they provide 1) strong evidence that soft X-ray sources are likely due to charge stripping of magnetospheric ions and; 2) a more complete spatial map of the oxygen and sulfur charge states, which is important for understanding how the charge- and mass-dependent physical processes sculpt the energetic particles throughout the Jovian magnetosphere. </p>