Plasma Wave and Particle Dynamics During Interchange Events in the Jovian Magnetosphere Using Juno Observations

Interchange instability is known to drive fast radial transport of particles in Jupiter's inner magnetosphere. Magnetic flux tubes associated with the interchange instability often coincide with changes in particle distributions and plasma waves, but further investigations are required to understand their detailed characteristics. We analyze representative interchange events observed by Juno, which exhibit intriguing features of particle distributions and plasma waves, including Z‐mode and whistler‐mode waves. These events occurred at an equatorial radial distance of ∼9 Jovian radii on the nightside, with Z‐mode waves observed at mid‐latitude and whistler‐mode waves near the equator. We calculate the linear growth rate of whistler‐mode and Z‐mode waves based on the observed plasma parameters and electron distributions and find that both waves can be locally generated within the interchanged flux tube. Our findings are important for understanding particle transport and generation of plasma waves in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and other planetary systems. Plain Language Summary The centrifugal interchange instability, which has been observed in rapidly rotating planets, like Saturn and Jupiter, moves cold plasmas inside of the magnetosphere further away, and transports hotter, less dense plasmas toward the inner magnetosphere. These moving flux tubes have been observed at Jupiter together with plasma waves, but their detailed characteristics are not fully understood. In the present study, we use observations from the Juno spacecraft to report multiple representative interchange events and evaluate the properties of energetic particles and plasma waves. Furthermore, we use linear theory to calculate the growth rates of Z‐mode and whistler‐mode waves during these events. Our findings reveal the typical features of plasma waves and particles during interchange events, which provide important insights into particle transport and generation of plasma waves at Jupiter and possibly other magnetized planets in our solar system and beyond. Key Points Several plasma transport events associated with interchange instability are identified alongside plasma waves using Juno observations Linear growth rate analyses indicate that waves can be locally generated during interchange events due to anisotropic electron distributions Our findings provide insights into electron transport and plasma wave dynamics during interchange events in planetary magnetospheres