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Energetic proton acceleration associated with Io's footprint tail
  • +21
  • George Clark,
  • Barry H. Mauk,
  • Peter Kollmann,
  • Szalay R. Jamey,
  • Ali H. Sulaiman,
  • Daniel J Gershman,
  • Joachim Saur,
  • Sascha Janser,
  • Katherine Garcia-Sage,
  • Thomas K. Greathouse,
  • Christopher P. Paranicas,
  • Allegrini Frederic,
  • Bagenal Fran,
  • Scott J Bolton,
  • John E. P. Connerney,
  • ebert robert,
  • George Blair Hospodarsky,
  • Dennis K Haggerty,
  • Vincent Hue,
  • Masafumi Imai,
  • Stavros Kotsiaros,
  • mccomas David,
  • Abigail Mary Rymer,
  • Joseph Hinton Westlake
George Clark
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Barry H. Mauk
Johns Hopkins University
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Peter Kollmann
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Szalay R. Jamey
Department of Astrophysical Sciences
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Ali H. Sulaiman
University of Iowa
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Daniel J Gershman
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Joachim Saur
University of Cologne
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Sascha Janser
University of Cologne
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Katherine Garcia-Sage
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Thomas K. Greathouse
SWRI
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Christopher P. Paranicas
Johns Hopkins University
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Allegrini Frederic
Southwest Research Institute
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Bagenal Fran
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Phisics
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Scott J Bolton
Southwest Research Institute
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John E. P. Connerney
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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ebert robert
Southwest Research Institute
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George Blair Hospodarsky
University of Iowa
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Dennis K Haggerty
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Vincent Hue
Southwest Research Institute
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Masafumi Imai
University of Iowa
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Stavros Kotsiaros
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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mccomas David
Department of Astrophysical Science
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Abigail Mary Rymer
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
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Joseph Hinton Westlake
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Abstract

Observations of energetic charged particles associated with Io’s footprint (IFP) tail, and likely within or very near the Main Alfvén Wing, during Juno’s 12th perijove (PJ) crossing show evidence of intense proton acceleration by wave-particle heating. Measurements made by Juno/JEDI reveal proton characteristics that include pitch angle distributions concentrated along the upward loss cone, broad energy distributions that span ~50 keV to 1 MeV, highly structured temporal/spatial variations in the particle intensities, and energy fluxes as high as ~100 mW/m2. Simultaneous measurements of the plasma waves and magnetic field suggest the presence of ion cyclotron waves and transverse Alfvénic fluctuations. We interpret the proton observations as upgoing conics likely accelerated via resonant interactions with ion cyclotron waves. These observations represent the first measurements of ion conics associated with moon-magnetosphere interactions, suggesting energetic ion acceleration plays a more important role in the IFP tail region than previously considered.
28 Dec 2020Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 47 issue 24. 10.1029/2020GL090839