Corotation Lag in Jupiter's Magnetosphere: Comparison of Observation and Theory

Abstract

Voyager 1 plasma flow data are compared with a recent theory that predicted measurable departures from rigid corotation in Jupiter's magnetosphere as a consequence of rapid plasma production and weak atmosphere-magnetosphere coupling. The comparison indicates that the theory can account for the observed corotation lag, provided that the plasma mass production rate during the Voyager 1 encounter was rather larger than expected, namely ∼ 1030 atomic mass units per second.