On the charge exchange loss of energetic charged particles in the Jovian magnetosphere

Following the suggestion that the magnetospheric charged particles may suffer charge exchange loss in the vicinity of the Io torus owing to the presence of neutral atomic and molecular clouds emitted from Io, some quantitative estimates are given to the resulting variation in the pitch angle distribution as well as the lossy radial diffusion between 5 and 8 R J . Comparison of the theoretical calculations with the Voyager observations indicates that the low‐energy particle measurements are compatible with the existence of neutral clouds of molecules and atoms distributed between 5.6 R J and 6 R J (and beyond) with a total number density of ≲180 cm −3 . This result reinforces the deduction from other observations that the neutral atoms and molecules ejected from Io into the Jovian magnetosphere could be quite extensive and effective in regulating the overall magnetospheric processes.