Large amplitude MHD waves upstream of the Jovian bow shock: Reinterpretation

Observations of large amplitude magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves upstream of the Jovian bow shock were previously interpreted as arising from a resonant electromagnetic ion beam instability. That interpretation was based on the conclusion that the observed fluctuations were predominantly right elliptically polarized in the solar wind rest frame. Because it was noted that the fluctuations are, in fact, left elliptically polarized, a reanalysis of the observations was necessary. Several mechanisms for producing left hand polarized MHD waves in the observed frequency range were investigated. Instabilities excited by protons appear unlikely to account for the observations. A resonant instability excited by relativistic electrons escaping from the Jovian magnetosphere is a likely source of free energy consistent with the observations. Evidence for the existence of such a population of electrons was found in both the Low Energy Charged Particle experiments and Cosmic Ray experiments on Voyager 2.