Modeling Jovian Synchrotron Radiation

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Comparison between 21cm VLA maps (left) and the JPL model (right) at CML=120^o (top) and 200^o (bottom).

We have a collaborative research effort between my group at UCLA, the radio physics group at JPL, (S. Levin, S. Gulkis) and the Salammbo modeling effort at SWRI (S. Bolton, D.Santos-Costa) to understand the physical processes responsible for synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons in the Jovian inner magnetosphere. The study involves the use of radio emission data from single dish antennae, the Very Large Array and most recently from the Cassini spacecraft, together with theoretical modeling of key physical processes.

Recent Publications:

Santos-Costa, D. S., S. Bolton, R. M. Thorne, Y. Miyoshi., and S. Levin (2007), Investigating the origins of the Jovian decimetric emission’s variability, J. Geophys. Res., 113, A01204, doi:10.1029/2007JA012396.

Bolton, S. J., R. M. Thorne, S. Bourdarie, B. H. Mauk, and I. de Pater (2004), Jupiter’s inner radiation belts, in Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites, and Magnetosphere, edited by F. Bagenal, T. Dowling, and W McKinnon, pp. 671-688, Cambridge University Press.

Bolton, S. J., M. Jansen, R. M. Thorne, S. Levin, M. Klein, S. Gulkis, T. Bastian, R. Sault, C. Elachi, M. Hofstadter, A. Bunker, G. Dulk, E. Gudim, M. Hamilton, W. Johnson, Y. Leblanc, O. Liepack, R. McLeod, J. Roller, L. Roth, and R. West. Cassini and ground-based observations of synchrotron emission from Jupiter’s radiation belts, Nature, 415, 987, 2002.

Levin, S. M., S. J. Bolton, S. L. Gulkis, M. J. Kline, B. Bhattacharya, and R. M. Thorne, Modeling Jupiter’s synchrotron radiation, Geophys. Res Lett., 28, 903-906, 2001.

Bolton, S. J., and R. M. Thorne, "Assessment of mechanisms for Jovian synchrotron variability associated with SL9," Geophys. Res. Letts,.22, 1813-1816, 1995.