A theory of the Jovian hydrogen torus

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Cold Plasmas, Hydrogen Clouds, Jupiter Atmosphere, Planetary Magnetospheres, Astronomical Models, Hydrogen Atoms, Io, Pioneer 10 Space Probe, Toroids

Scientific paper

The Jovian hydrogen torus associated with Io, that was observed by Judge and Carlson, has been found by them to be a third of a torus rather than a complete torus. It is shown that the energetic particles observed by Pioneer 10 do not ionize atomic hydrogen sufficiently fast to erode the torus as observed. It is proposed that the reason an incomplete torus exists is the presence of a corotating cold magnetospheric plasma. If this explanation is correct, the angular extent of the fractional torus is a measure of the density of the magnetospheric plasma near Io's orbit, which is found to be about 100 per cu cm. It is shown that such a plasma may provide an adequate input to Io, where it can recombine and escape, to form enough hydrogen atoms to explain the number of observed torus atoms. Thus the magnetospheric plasma may serve as both the source and the sink of the torus.

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