Y. Sarkango

Corotation-bounce resonance of ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere

Y. Sarkango [1], J. R. Szalay [1], P. A. Damiano [2], A. H. Sulaiman [3], P. A. Delamere [2], J. Saur [4], D. J. McComas [1], R. W. Ebert [5,6], F. Allegrini [5,6]

Abstract

Banded energy distributions of H$^{+}$, O$^{++}$, S$^{+++}$, and O$^+$ or S$^{++}$ ions between 100 eV to ~20 keV are consistently observed in Jupiter's magnetosphere mapping to M-shells between M=10-20. The bands correspond to flux enhancements at similar speeds for different ion species, providing the first evidence of simultaneous bounce-resonant acceleration of multiple ion species in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Ion enhancements occur for energies at which the bounce frequencies of the trapped ions matched integer harmonics of the System-III corotation frequency. The observations highlight a previously unknown interaction between corotation and bounce motion of <10 keV energy ions that is a fundamental and persistent process occurring in Jupiter's magnetosphere.