Rights statement: © 2009 American Geophysical Union
Final published version, 333 KB, PDF document
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | A04214 |
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 04/2009 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics |
Issue number | 4 |
Volume | 114 |
Publication Status | Published |
Early online date | 28/04/09 |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Observations of Jupiter's auroral regions indicate that electrons are accelerated into Jupiter's atmosphere creating emissions. The acceleration of the electrons intimate that parallel electric fields and field-aligned currents develop along the flux tubes which connect the equatorial plane to the areas with auroral emission. The relationship between the development of parallel electric fields and the parallel currents is often assumed to be the same as that on Earth. However, the relationship is significantly different at Jupiter due to a lack of plasma at high latitudes as large centrifugal forces caused by Jupiter's fast rotation period (about 9.8 h) constrain the magnetospheric plasma to the equatorial plane. We use a 1-D spatial, 2-D velocity space Vlasov code which has been modified to include centrifugal forces to examine the current-voltage relationship that exists at Jupiter. In particular, we investigate this relationship at a distance of 5.9 Jovian radii, the orbital radius of Io, which is coupled with the auroral spot and Io wake auroral emissions.