Ultra-relativistic electrons in Jupiter's radiation belts

S. J. Bolton (), M. Janssen, R. Thorne, S. Levin, M. Klein, S. Gulkis, T. Bastian, R. Sault, C. Elachi, M. Hofstadter, A. Bunker, G. Dulk, E. Gudim, G. Hamilton, W. T. K. Johnson, Y. Leblanc, O. Liepack, R. McLeod, J. Roller, L. Roth and R. West
Additional contact information
S. J. Bolton: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
M. Janssen: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
R. Thorne: University of California
S. Levin: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
M. Klein: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
S. Gulkis: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
T. Bastian: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
R. Sault: Australia Telescope National Facility
C. Elachi: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
M. Hofstadter: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
A. Bunker: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
G. Dulk: Observatory of Paris
E. Gudim: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
G. Hamilton: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
W. T. K. Johnson: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
Y. Leblanc: Observatory of Paris
O. Liepack: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
R. McLeod: Lewis Center for Educational Research
J. Roller: Lewis Center for Educational Research
L. Roth: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
R. West: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech

Nature, 2002, vol. 415, issue 6875, 987-991

Abstract: Abstract Ground-based observations have shown that Jupiter is a two-component source of microwave radio emission1: thermal atmospheric emission and synchrotron emission2 from energetic electrons spiralling in Jupiter's magnetic field. Later in situ measurements3,4 confirmed the existence of Jupiter's high-energy electron-radiation belts, with evidence for electrons at energies up to 20 MeV. Although most radiation belt models predict electrons at higher energies5,6, adiabatic diffusion theory can account only for energies up to around 20 MeV. Unambiguous evidence for more energetic electrons is lacking. Here we report observations of 13.8 GHz synchrotron emission that confirm the presence of electrons with energies up to 50 MeV; the data were collected during the Cassini fly-by of Jupiter. These energetic electrons may be repeatedly accelerated through an interaction with plasma waves, which can transfer energy into the electrons. Preliminary comparison of our data with model results suggests that electrons with energies of less than 20 MeV are more numerous than previously believed.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/415987a Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6875:d:10.1038_415987a

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/415987a

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().