English

Dynamical tides in Jupiter as revealed by Juno

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2021-12-14 v1

Abstract

The Juno orbiter continues to collect data on Jupiter's gravity field with unprecedented precision since 2016, recently reporting a non-hydrostatic component in the tidal response of the planet. At the mid-mission perijove 17, Juno registered a Love number k2=0.565±0.006k_2=0.565\pm0.006 that is 4±1%-4\pm1\% (1σ1\sigma) from the theoretical hydrostatic k2(hs)=0.590k_2^{(hs)}=0.590. Here we assess whether the aforementioned departure of tides from hydrostatic equilibrium represents the neglected gravitational contribution of dynamical tides. We employ perturbation theory and simple tidal models to calculate a fractional dynamical correction Δk2\Delta k_2 to the well-known hydrostatic k2k_2. Exploiting the analytical simplicity of a toy uniform-density model, we show how the Coriolis acceleration motivates the negative sign in the Δk2\Delta k_2 observed by Juno. By simplifying Jupiter's interior into a core-less, fully-convective, and chemically-homogeneous body, we calculate Δk2\Delta k_2 in a model following an n=1n=1 polytrope equation of state. Our numerical results for the n=1n=1 polytrope qualitatively follow the behaviour of the uniform-density model, mostly because the main component of the tidal flow is similar in each case. Our results indicate that the gravitational effect of the Io-induced dynamical tide leads to Δk2=4±1%\Delta k_2=-4\pm1\%, in agreement with the non-hydrostatic component reported by Juno. Consequently, our results suggest that Juno obtained the first unambiguous detection of the gravitational effect of dynamical tides in a gas giant planet. These results facilitate a future interpretation of Juno tidal gravity data with the purpose of elucidating the existence of a dilute core in Jupiter.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.09072,
  title  = {Dynamical tides in Jupiter as revealed by Juno},
  author = {Benjamin Idini and David J. Stevenson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.09072},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

22 pages, 5 figures, accepted to PSJ

R2 v1 2026-06-23T23:16:13.340Z