Dust in Jupiter's magnetosphere - An Io source

The possibility of removing particles from Io by interactions with the Jovian magnetosphere has been investigated. It is found that dust grains of about 0.1 micron radius will rapidly become charged if exposed to the ambient Jovian plasma. For particles this size in Io's volcanic plumes, the Lorentz force can overcome Io's gravity and these particles can escape. Escaping dust will be controlled by the topology of the magnetosphere and it is suggested that Io-derived dust may be an important source of erosive impacts on large Jovian ring particles and destructive collisions with small particles. The ring particles themselves will interact with the Jovian plasma and it is suggested that Coulomb scattering of plasma particles by charged dust grains may produce a plasma gap or void in the vicinity of the rings.