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A unified framework for global auroral morphologies of different planets

Nature Astronomy (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Planetary magnetic fields control energetic particles in their space environments and guide particles to polar atmospheres, where they produce stunning auroral forms. As revealed by spacecraft measurements of the Earth, Saturn and Jupiter, the pathways of energetic particles to these planetary polar atmospheres are diverse, suggesting that there are different coupling processes between their ionospheres and magnetospheres. These planets all have dipole-dominated magnetic fields, rotate in the same direction and are blown by the solar wind, but what controls the global-scale patterns of energy dissipation remains unknown. Based on three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics calculations, we reveal that the competition between planet-driven plasma rotation and solar-wind-driven flow convection determines the structure of global auroral morphologies. This unified theoretical framework can reproduce polar aurora from the Earth-type to the Jupiter-type based on transition states that are strikingly consistent with the highly variable aurora patterns of Saturn. This generalized description of fundamental magnetospheric physics, proposed here and validated by decades-long observations, is applicable to exoplanetary systems.

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Fig. 1: Variable Sun–planet magnetosphere interactions.
Fig. 2: Magnetosphere–ionosphere connection.
Fig. 3: Variation of the simulated Alfvénic oval as a function of RΦ.

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Data availability

The IMAGE FUV/WIC data, the UDF software for IMAGE data installation and FUVIEW3 for display were obtained from http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/image/. The Hubble Space Telescope observations of Saturn’s aurorae were obtained from https://archive.stsci.edu/hst/search.php, and the Jovian auroral image is archived in NASA’s Planetary Data System (http://pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/JUNO/juno.html).

Code availability

The simulation data and source code are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41922060, 42074211 and 42374212) and Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (Grant Nos. 17308221, 17308520, 17315222 and 17308723).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NWU-HKU Joint Centre of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    B. Zhang, Z. Yao & J. Chen

  2. Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Z. Yao

  3. Brambles Consulting, Preston, UK

    O. J. Brambles

  4. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    P. A. Delamere

  5. Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    W. Lotko

  6. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    W. Lotko

  7. LPAP, Space Sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research (STAR), Institute Université de Liège (ULiége), Liège, Belgium

    D. Grodent & B. Bonfond

  8. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA

    K. A. Sorathia & V. G. Merkin

  9. Gamera Consulting, Hanover, NH, USA

    J. G. Lyon

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Contributions

B.Z. and Z. Y designed the numerical experiment and led the conceptual framework to understand the uniform auroral picture. O.J.B., J.C., K.A.S. and V.G.M. developed the numerical code. P.A.D., W.L. and J.G.L. provided crucial insights in the theoretical investigations. D.G. and B.B. processed the auroral images. All authors participated in producing the manuscript and revisions.

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Correspondence to Z. Yao.

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Zhang, B., Yao, Z., Brambles, O.J. et al. A unified framework for global auroral morphologies of different planets. Nat Astron (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02270-3

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