Towards Unifying Jupiter’s X-rays with Radio, UV, Magnetic Field and Plasma Observations

In 1979, while the Voyager spacecraft were undertaking their paradigm-shifting multi-instrument explorations of the Jovian system, the Einstein X-ray observatory was also taking the first X-ray images of the planet (Metzger et al. 1983). Two decades later, the launch of the highly complementary Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories ushered in the modern era of X-ray astronomy. These cutting-edge astrophysics platforms uncovered a treasure trove of high energy astrophysical emissions
from Jupiter. In particular, at the poles, they revealed a variety of vibrant aurorae: impulsive auroral flares which occur with a regular periodic beat every few 10s of minutes (Gladstone et al. 2002); flickering dim ion aurora (Dunn et al. 2020); electron bremsstrahlung aurora from along the main emission (Branduardi-Raymont et al. 2004; 2008) and hints of a transient electron aurora coincident
with auroral injection events (Wibisono et al. 2021).
In this talk, we explore connections between these X-ray auroral emissions and in-situ waves, plasma and magnetic field measurements by Juno (e.g. Yao & Dunn et al. 2021) and UV observations by the Hubble Space Telescope. We showthat the impulsive bursts of auroral X-rays share the same periodicity with kHz radio emissions and UV flares from the auroral zone and electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves, and anti-phase variations in the plasma and magnetic field, which may be indicative of slow mode or mirror mode waves. We will speculate on how these shared multi-waveband periodicities may be causally linked.
We will also show overlaid X-ray and UV aurora videos, that explore further auroral connections between the UV and X-ray aurora, highlighting shared morphology and timing signatures between the two wavebands. Particularly, this reveals connections between emissions in the active region, on the boundary of the swirl region and in the dark polar region.
Finally, we close the talk by touching on other potentially transformative X-ray capabilities for the outer planets including: direct imaging of the radiation belts by Suzaku (e.g. Numazawa et al. 2021), direct imaging of planetary magnetosheaths, and the elemental fingerprint fluorescence glow from the surfaces of the Galilean satellites, produced through moon-plasma interactions (e.g. Nulsen et al. 2020).