Westward winds have now been inferred for two hot Jupiters (HJs): HAT-P-7b and CoRoT-2b. Such observations could be the result of a number of physical phenomena such as cloud asymmetries, asynchronous rotation, or magnetic fields. For the hotter HJs magnetic fields are an obvious candidate, though the actual mechanism remains poorly understood. Here we show that a strong toroidal magnetic field causes the planetary-scale equatorial magneto-Kelvin wave to structurally shear as it travels, resulting in westward tilting eddies, which drive a reversal of the equatorial winds from their eastward hydrodynamic counterparts. Using our simplified model we estimate that the equatorial winds of HAT-P-7b would reverse for a planetary dipole field strength B dip,HAT-P-7b 6 G, a result that is consistent with three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations and lies below typical surface dipole estimates of inflated HJs. The same analysis suggests the minimum dipole field strength required to reverse the winds of CoRoT-2b is B dip, 3 kG, which considerably exceeds estimates of the maximum surface dipole strength for HJs. We hence conclude that our magnetic wave-driven mechanism provides an explanation for wind reversals on HAT-P-7b; however, other physical phenomena provide more plausible explanations for wind reversals on CoRoT-2b.

Magnetically driven hotspot variations (which are tied to atmospheric wind variations) in hot Jupiters are studied using nonlinear numerical simulations of a shallow-water magnetohydrodynamic (SWMHD) system and a linear analysis of equatorial SWMHD waves. In hydrodynamic models, mid-to-high-latitude geostrophic circulations are known to cause a net west-to-east equatorial thermal energy transfer, which drives hotspot offsets eastward. We find that a strong toroidal magnetic field can obstruct these energy transporting circulations. This results in winds aligning with the magnetic field and generates westward Lorentz force accelerations in hotspot regions, ultimately causing westward hotspot offsets. In the subsequent linear analysis we find that this reversal mechanism has an equatorial wave analogy in terms of the planetary-scale equatorial magneto-Rossby waves. We compare our findings to three-dimensional MHD simulations, both quantitatively and qualitatively, identifying the link between the mechanics of magnetically driven hotspot and wind reversals. We use the developed theory to identify physically motivated reversal criteria, which can be used to place constraints on the magnetic fields of ultra-hot Jupiters with observed westward hotspots.

We use results of shallow-water magnetohydrodynamics to place estimates on the minimum magnetic field strengths required to cause atmospheric wind variations (and therefore westward-venturing hotspots) for a data set of hot Jupiters (HJs), including HAT-P-7b, CoRoT-2b, Kepler-76, WASP-12b, and WASP-33b, on which westward hotspots have been observationally inferred. For HAT-P-7b and CoRoT-2b our estimates agree with past results; for Kepler-76b we find that the critical dipolar magnetic field strength, over which the observed wind variations can be explained by magnetism, lies between 4 G and 19 G; for WASP-12b and WASP-33b westward hotspots can be explained by 1 G and 2 G dipolar fields, respectively. Additionally, to guide future observational missions, we identify 61 further HJs that are likely to exhibit magnetically driven atmospheric wind variations and predict these variations are highly likely in ∼40 of the hottest HJs.

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