Injection‐Driven Heating and Transport in Jupiter’s Middle Magnetosphere

Abstract The Juno mission, in conjunction with past missions and Earth‐based observations, has provided a wealth of information on Jupiter's magnetosphere. This magnetosphere is governed by Jupiter's strong magnetic field, rapid 10‐hr rotation, and a significant internal plasma source, the volcanic moon Io. Jupiter's magnetodisc exhibits plasma temperatures that deviate strongly from adiabatic expectations, increasing by nearly two orders of magnitude between the Io plasma torus and ∼25 . The physical mechanisms responsible for this heating remain poorly understood, particularly in the middle magnetosphere where advective transport dominates. In this study, we use a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation to investigate the processes controlling plasma temperature evolution. Fluid tracing and test particle simulations are performed to analyze radial transport and energization within the magnetodisc. Our results reproduce key features of the observed temperature profiles, including the pronounced increase beyond 10 , without the need for additional heating terms. We demonstrate that a combination of tail reconnection, adiabatic compression, and large‐scale radial and corotational transport can explain the simulated temperature profiles, providing insight into the mechanisms governing plasma heating in Jupiter's magnetodisc. These findings highlight the importance of global scale MHD processes in shaping the thermal structure of the middle magnetosphere and offer a framework for interpreting Juno observations in regions not directly observed.