Jupiter’s magnetic field traps oxygen and sulphur ions in a radiation belt so energetic that existing physics cannot explain how they got there. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft revealed that these heavy ions are too energetic to have been accelerated by the usual process of radial diffusion, meaning an unknown heating mechanism is at work inside the magnetosphere. This project tests whether interactions with electromagnetic waves—the same process used to heat plasma in nuclear fusion reactors—are accelerating the ions in place. The researcher will combine wave and particle data from Jupiter with computer simulations to assess this mechanism. If confirmed, it would solve a puzzle about how the Solar System’s most hazardous radiation belts form. The work also examines whether similar wave-ion interactions drive Jupiter’s X-ray aurora. This is fundamental science about planetary magnetospheres, with no immediate practical application. However, understanding how waves energise charged particles in extreme environments could inform future spacecraft shielding design or improve models of plasma behaviour relevant to fusion energy research.
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Jupiter sits within a giant magnetic bubble encapsulated in the flow of the Solar wind. Inside this magnetosphere, Jupiter’s magnetic field can trap energetic charged particles (electrons and ions) in radiation belts. Jupiter’s magnetosphere contains a wide variety of ions heavier than hydrogen at much greater abundance than in Earth’s magnetosphere. This is mainly due to the many moons that surround Jupiter, in particular the volcanically active moon, Io. The radiation belts of Jupiter are the most energetic and hazardous radiation belts in the Solar system. Recent analysis of NASA Galileo heavy ion data has shown that an incredibly energetic radiation belt of oxygen and sulphur ions which exists very close to Jupiter cannot be formed by the traditional method of accelerating radiation belt particles, a process called radial diffusion. The data from Galileo show that another mechanism of heating these heavy ions must be present and is accelerating the ions in-situ rather than via a transport process. One possible mechanism is the interaction of the ions with waves in the magnetosphere. This mechanism is actively employed to heat charged plasma injected into nuclear fusion reactors and is also thought to be involved in ion heating in the outer layers of the Sun. The primary aim of the project aim is to use available wave and particle data at Jupiter together with internationally respected computer simulations to assess whether ion-wave heating is responsible for this intense, heavy ion radiation belt at Jupiter. The secondary goal of this project is to investigate similar wave-heavy ion interactions that have recently been suggested to play a key part of the production of X-ray aurora at Jupiter. By tackling these two exciting and recent discoveries in Jupiter’s magnetosphere this project will significantly advance the understanding of the impact of wave-particle interactions on the dynamics of energetic heavy ions in radiation belts at Jupiter and beyond. The Project Lead has over 12 years’ experience in analysing wave-particle interactions at Jupiter and Saturn. The PDRA will be embedded in an active, internationally respected radiation belt physics group where the authors of the modelling tools for the project still work. The data is already publicly available and the work has been carefully planned to be low risk and high reward which will lead to a successful project.
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