Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares

Zhonghua Yao; William R. Dunn; Emma E. Woodfield; George Clark; Barry H. Mauk; Robert W. Ebert; Denis Grodent; Bertrand Bonfond; Dongxiao Pan; Jonathan I. Rae; Binbin Ni; Ruilong Guo; Graziella Branduardi-Raymont; Affelia D. Wibisono; Pedro Rodriguez; Stavros Kotsiaros; Jan-Uwe Ness; Frederic Allegrini; William S. Kurth; G. Randall Gladstone; Ralph Kraft; Ali H. Sulaiman; Harry Manners; Ravindra T. Desai; Scott J. Bolton

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abf0851

Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares

Zhonghua Yao^*, William R. Dunn, Emma E. Woodfield, George Clark, Barry H. Mauk, Robert W. Ebert, Denis Grodent, Bertrand Bonfond, Dongxiao Pan, Jonathan I. Rae, Binbin Ni, Ruilong Guo, Graziella Branduardi-Raymont, Affelia D. Wibisono, Pedro Rodriguez, Stavros Kotsiaros, Jan-Uwe Ness, Frederic Allegrini, William S. Kurth, G. Randall GladstoneRalph Kraft, Ali H. Sulaiman, Harry Manners, Ravindra T. Desai, Scott J. Bolton

^*Corresponding author for this work

Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Jupiter’s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic processes governing magnetospheres but seemingly unique to Jupiter. Since their discovery 40 years ago, the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares have remained unknown. Here, we report simultaneous in situ satellite and space-based telescope observations that reveal the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares, showing surprising similarities to terrestrial ion aurora. Planetary-scale electromagnetic waves are observed to modulate electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, periodically causing heavy ions to precipitate and produce Jupiter’s x-ray pulses. Our findings show that ion aurorae share common mechanisms across planetary systems, despite temporal, spatial, and energetic scales varying by orders of magnitude.

Original language	English
Article number	eabf0851
Number of pages	8
Journal	Science advances
Volume	7
Issue number	28
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf0851
Publication status	Published - 9 Jul 2021

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Yao, Z., Dunn, W. R., Woodfield, E. E., Clark, G., Mauk, B. H., Ebert, R. W., Grodent, D., Bonfond, B., Pan, D., Rae, J. I., Ni, B., Guo, R., Branduardi-Raymont, G., Wibisono, A. D., Rodriguez, P., Kotsiaros, S., Ness, J-U., Allegrini, F., Kurth, W. S., ... Bolton, S. J. (2021). Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares. Science advances, 7(28), Article eabf0851. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf0851

@article{e0aaf6566e3d46b0951a5be148faa8b1,

title = "Revealing the source of Jupiter{\textquoteright}s x-ray auroral flares",

abstract = "Jupiter{\textquoteright}s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic processes governing magnetospheres but seemingly unique to Jupiter. Since their discovery 40 years ago, the processes that produce Jupiter{\textquoteright}s x-ray flares have remained unknown. Here, we report simultaneous in situ satellite and space-based telescope observations that reveal the processes that produce Jupiter{\textquoteright}s x-ray flares, showing surprising similarities to terrestrial ion aurora. Planetary-scale electromagnetic waves are observed to modulate electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, periodically causing heavy ions to precipitate and produce Jupiter{\textquoteright}s x-ray pulses. Our findings show that ion aurorae share common mechanisms across planetary systems, despite temporal, spatial, and energetic scales varying by orders of magnitude.",

author = "Zhonghua Yao and Dunn, {William R.} and Woodfield, {Emma E.} and George Clark and Mauk, {Barry H.} and Ebert, {Robert W.} and Denis Grodent and Bertrand Bonfond and Dongxiao Pan and Rae, {Jonathan I.} and Binbin Ni and Ruilong Guo and Graziella Branduardi-Raymont and Wibisono, {Affelia D.} and Pedro Rodriguez and Stavros Kotsiaros and Jan-Uwe Ness and Frederic Allegrini and Kurth, {William S.} and Gladstone, {G. Randall} and Ralph Kraft and Sulaiman, {Ali H.} and Harry Manners and Desai, {Ravindra T.} and Bolton, {Scott J.}",

note = "Research information: Natural Environment Research Council (NE/P017150/1, NE/P017185/1, NE/V002554/1, and NE/V002724/1) Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/S000496/1ST/S000240/1) Royal Society (NAF/R1/191047) National Natural Science Foundation of China (4207421142025404) SAO fellowship to Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics and by European Space Agency (4000120752/17/NL/MH) Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA17010201) B-type Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB41000000) The pre-research projects on Civil Aerospace Technologies (D020308, D020104 and D020303) IGGCAS (IGGCAS- 201904)",

year = "2021",

month = jul,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1126/sciadv.abf0851",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

journal = "Science advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "28",

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Yao, Z, Dunn, WR, Woodfield, EE, Clark, G, Mauk, BH, Ebert, RW, Grodent, D, Bonfond, B, Pan, D, Rae, JI, Ni, B, Guo, R, Branduardi-Raymont, G, Wibisono, AD, Rodriguez, P, Kotsiaros, S, Ness, J-U, Allegrini, F, Kurth, WS, Gladstone, GR, Kraft, R, Sulaiman, AH, Manners, H, Desai, RT & Bolton, SJ 2021, 'Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares', Science advances, vol. 7, no. 28, eabf0851. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf0851

TY - JOUR

T1 - Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares

AU - Yao, Zhonghua

AU - Dunn, William R.

AU - Woodfield, Emma E.

AU - Clark, George

AU - Mauk, Barry H.

AU - Ebert, Robert W.

AU - Grodent, Denis

AU - Bonfond, Bertrand

AU - Pan, Dongxiao

AU - Rae, Jonathan I.

AU - Ni, Binbin

AU - Guo, Ruilong

AU - Branduardi-Raymont, Graziella

AU - Wibisono, Affelia D.

AU - Rodriguez, Pedro

AU - Kotsiaros, Stavros

AU - Ness, Jan-Uwe

AU - Allegrini, Frederic

AU - Kurth, William S.

AU - Gladstone, G. Randall

AU - Kraft, Ralph

AU - Sulaiman, Ali H.

AU - Manners, Harry

AU - Desai, Ravindra T.

AU - Bolton, Scott J.

N1 - Research information: Natural Environment Research Council (NE/P017150/1, NE/P017185/1, NE/V002554/1, and NE/V002724/1) Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/S000496/1ST/S000240/1) Royal Society (NAF/R1/191047) National Natural Science Foundation of China (4207421142025404) SAO fellowship to Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics and by European Space Agency (4000120752/17/NL/MH) Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA17010201) B-type Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB41000000) The pre-research projects on Civil Aerospace Technologies (D020308, D020104 and D020303) IGGCAS (IGGCAS- 201904)

PY - 2021/7/9

Y1 - 2021/7/9

N2 - Jupiter’s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic processes governing magnetospheres but seemingly unique to Jupiter. Since their discovery 40 years ago, the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares have remained unknown. Here, we report simultaneous in situ satellite and space-based telescope observations that reveal the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares, showing surprising similarities to terrestrial ion aurora. Planetary-scale electromagnetic waves are observed to modulate electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, periodically causing heavy ions to precipitate and produce Jupiter’s x-ray pulses. Our findings show that ion aurorae share common mechanisms across planetary systems, despite temporal, spatial, and energetic scales varying by orders of magnitude.

AB - Jupiter’s rapidly rotating, strong magnetic field provides a natural laboratory that is key to understanding the dynamics of high-energy plasmas. Spectacular auroral x-ray flares are diagnostic of the most energetic processes governing magnetospheres but seemingly unique to Jupiter. Since their discovery 40 years ago, the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares have remained unknown. Here, we report simultaneous in situ satellite and space-based telescope observations that reveal the processes that produce Jupiter’s x-ray flares, showing surprising similarities to terrestrial ion aurora. Planetary-scale electromagnetic waves are observed to modulate electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, periodically causing heavy ions to precipitate and produce Jupiter’s x-ray pulses. Our findings show that ion aurorae share common mechanisms across planetary systems, despite temporal, spatial, and energetic scales varying by orders of magnitude.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110173583&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.abf0851

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.abf0851

M3 - Article

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 7

JO - Science advances

JF - Science advances

IS - 28

M1 - eabf0851

ER -

Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares

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