Signatures of Open Magnetic Flux in Jupiter's Dawnside Magnetotail

Abstract

Jupiter's magnetosphere exhibits notable distinctions from the terrestrial magnetosphere. The structure and dynamics of Jupiter's dawnside magnetosphere can be characterized as a competition between internally driven sunward flow and solar wind-driven tailward flow. During the prime mission, Juno acquired extensive data from dawn to midnight, sampling the magnetodisc and higher latitude regions. Numerical moments from the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE-I) plasma (ion) instrument revealed a mid-latitude region of anticorotational (−vϕ) flow. While the magnitude of the flow is subject to uncertainty due to low count rates in these rarefied regions, we demonstrate in the raw JADE-I data that the sign of vϕ is a robust measurement. Global Grid Agnostic Magnetohydrodyamics for Extended Research Applications simulations show a similar region of strongly reduced flow in proximity to open field lines. Additionally, we use Jupiter Energetic-particle Detector Instrument integral moments to determine the Hen+/H+ ratio (where n refers to He+ or He++) and show that a transition to solar wind-like composition occurs in the same region as the anticorotational flow. We conclude that the global simulations are consistent with the Juno data, where the simulations show a crescent of open magnetic flux that is bounded by the magnetodisc and a closed high-latitude polar region (nominally the polar cap), which is never observed in the terrestrial magnetosphere. The distinct distribution of open flux in Jupiter's dawnside magnetosphere suggests the significance of planetary rotation and may represent a characteristic feature of rotating giant magnetospheres for future exploration.