Plasmoids in the Jovian Magnetotail: Statistical Survey of Ion Acceleration Using Juno Observations

Autor: Blöcker, A., Kronberg, E. A., Grigorenko, E. E., Clark, G., Kozak, L., Vogt, M. F., Roussos, E., 1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Ludwig‐Maximilians‐University Munich Germany, 2 Space Research Institute Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia, 3 Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel MD USA, 4 Astronomy and Space Physics Department Kyev Taras Shevchenko University Kyev Ukraine, 5 Center for Space Physics Boston University Boston MA USA, 6 Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research Göttingen Germany
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 127
ISSN: 2169-9402
2169-9380
DOI: 10.1029/2022ja030460
Popis: Transient magnetic reconnection plays an important role in energetic particle acceleration in planetary magnetospheres. Jupiter's magnetosphere provides a unique natural laboratory to study processes of energy transport and transformation. Strong electric fields in spatially confined structures such as plasmoids can be responsible for ion acceleration to high energies. In this study we focus on the effectiveness of ion energization and acceleration in plasmoids. Therefore, we present a statistical study of plasmoid structures in the predawn magnetotail, which were identified in the magnetometer data of the Juno spacecraft from 2016 to 2018. We additionally use the energetic particle observations from the Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument which discriminates between different ion species. We are particularly interested in the analysis of the acceleration and energization of oxygen, sulfur, helium, and hydrogen ions. We investigate how the event properties, such as the radial distance and the local time of the observed plasmoids in the magnetotail, affect the ion intensities close to the current sheet center. Furthermore, we analyze if ion acceleration is influenced by magnetic field turbulence inside the plasmoids. We find significant heavy ion acceleration in plasmoids close to the current sheet center which is in line with the previous statistical results based on Galileo observations conducted by Kronberg et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JA026553). The observed effectiveness of the acceleration is dependent on the position of Juno in the magnetotail during the plasmoid event observation. Our results show no correlation between magnetic field turbulence and nonadiabatic acceleration for heavy ions during plasmoids.
Key Points: Intensity of heavy ions is strongly increased during plasmoids close to the current sheet center. Significant increase of heavy ion intensities is observed in plasmoids with larger wave power. Acceleration of heavy and light ions in plasmoids due to resonant interaction with the magnetic field fluctuations could not be observed.
Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung) http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001663
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659
NASA
https://pds-ppi.igpp.ucla.edu/
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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