Recent advances in the magnetic reconnection, dipolarization, and auroral processes at giant planets from the perspective of comparative planetology

Abstract

Magnetic reconnection and dipolarization are crucial processes driving magnetospheric dynamics, including particle energization, mass circulation, and auroral processes, among others. Recent studies have revealed that these processes at Saturn and Jupiter are fundamentally different from the ones at Earth. The reconnection and dipolarization processes are far more important than previously expected in the dayside magnetodisc of Saturn and potentially Jupiter. Dayside magnetodisc reconnection was directly identified by using Cassini measurements (Guo RL et al., 2018b) and was found to be drizzle-like and rotating in the magnetosphere of Saturn (Delamere et al., 2015b; Yao ZH et al., 2017a; Guo RL et al., 2019). Moreover, magnetic dipolarization could also exist at Saturn’s dayside (Yao ZH et al., 2018), which is fundamentally different from the terrestrial situation. These new results significantly improve our understanding of giant planetary magnetospheric dynamics and provide key insights revealing the physics of planetary aurorae. Here, we briefly review these recent advances and their potential implications for future investigations.