A source of very energetic oxygen located in Jupiter’s inner radiation belts

Jupiter hosts the most hazardous radiation belts of our solar system that, besides electrons and protons, trap an undetermined mix of heavy ions. The details of this mix are critical to resolve because they can reveal the role of Jupiter’s moons relative to other less explored energetic ion sources. Here, we show that with increasing energy and in the vicinity of Jupiter’s moon Amalthea, the belts’ ion composition transitions from sulfur- to oxygen-dominated due to a local source of ≳50 MeV/nucleon oxygen. Contrary to Earth’s and Saturn’s radiation belts, where their most energetic ions are supplied through atmospheric and ring interactions with externally accelerated cosmic rays, Jupiter’s magnetosphere powers this oxygen source internally. The underlying source mechanism, involving either Jovian ring spallation by magnetospheric sulfur or stochastic oxygen heating by low-frequency plasma waves, puts Jupiter’s ion radiation belt in the same league with that of astrophysical particle accelerators.