Absorption of trapped particles by Jupiter's moons

We have included absorption effects of the four innermost moons in the radial transport equations for electrons and protons in Jupiter's magnetosphere. We find that the phase space density n at 2 RJ for electrons with equatorial pitch angles of <69° is reduced by a factor of 4.2×104 when lunar absorption is included in the calculation. For protons with equatorial pitch angles of <69° the corresponding reduction factor is 2.3×106. The effect of the satellites becomes progressively weaker for both electrons and protons as equatorial pitch angles of π/2 are approached because the likelihood of impacting a satellite becomes progressively smaller. The large density decreases that we find at the orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede result in corresponding particle flux decreases that should be observed by spacecraft making particle measurements in Jupiter's magnetosphere. The characteristic signature of satellite absorption should be a downward-pointing vertex in the flux versus radius curve at the L value corresponding to each satellite.