A predator–prey model for moon-triggered clumping in Saturn’s rings

Esposito, L. W.; Albers, N.; Meinke, B. K.; Sremčević, M.; Madhusudhanan, Prasanna; Colwell, Joshua; Jerousek, R. G.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.09.029

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Regime (b) is especially relevant to conditions in the F ring of Saturn, where the r p parameter is close to 0.83. Our simulations, like Salo (1995) and Karjalainen & Salo (2004), are hence consistent with observations of embedded large bodies in the F ring, and theories that attribute their prevalence to a size distribution dynamics comprising gravitational aggregation, and tidal and collisional disruption (Barbara & Esposito 2002; Esposito et al 2012). Our simulations directly animate these processes from first principles, though the real system exhibits many more physical effects than our model.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…The F ring is thought to comprise a population of large objects (of some 10 km) swathed in dust (Showalter 2004; Esposito et al 2008; Murray et al 2008). Being located so near the Roche limit, the size distribution of these larger bodies evolves according to gravitational aggregation, and tidal and collisional disruption (Barbara & Esposito 2002; Esposito et al 2012). The tidal environment is very different for those dense narrow rings located interior the Roche limit, such as the ε ring of Uranus or the dense ringlets ensconced in Saturn’s C ring (Colwell et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The gravitational instability of a stream of co-orbital particles

Latter

Rein

Ogilvie

2012

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe the dynamics of a stream of equally spaced macroscopic particles in orbit around a central body (e.g. a planet or star). A co-orbital configuration of small bodies may be subject to gravitational instability, which takes the system to a spreading, disordered and collisional state. We detail the linear instability's mathematical and physical features using the shearing sheet model and subsequently track its nonlinear evolution with local N-body simulations. This model provides a convenient tool with which to understand the gravitational and collisional dynamics of narrow belts, such as Saturn's F-ring and the streams of material wrenched from tidally disrupted bodies. In particular, we study the tendency of these systems to form long-lived particle aggregates. Finally, we uncover an unexpected connection between the linear dynamics of the gravitational instability and the magnetorotational instability.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. MNRAS, accepte

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gravitational instability of a stream of co-orbital particles

Latter

Rein

Ogilvie

2012

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Subsequent encounters would be equally likely to perturb an object back towards the ring, depending on its exact orbit and the phase of closest approach, meaning objects could undergo a chaotic random walk in ∆a around the core. Likewise their solidity and size would evolve by collisions in a random way over time with only a lucky few aggregating into solid moonlets as described in Esposito et al (2012). We conclude this to be the likely formation mechanism for S6 which must be a relatively young object.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…This is further evidence for ongoing accretion in the F ring core as investigated by Canup and Esposito (1995) and Karjalainen (2007) among others. There is already evidence that Prometheus may aid in triggering clump formation (Beurle et al, 2010;Esposito et al, 2012) and perturbing objects onto their colliding orbits. Although collisional features are not correlated with Prometheus's location this does not rule out its influence as objects perturbed onto differing orbits would naturally spread around the ring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of low-velocity collisional features in Saturn’s F ring

Attree

Murray

Williams

et al. 2014

Icarus

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Small (∼ 50km scale), irregular features seen in Cassini images to be emanating from Saturn's F ring have been termed mini-jets by Attree et al. (2012). One particular mini-jet was tracked over half an orbital period, revealing its evolution with time and suggesting a collision with a local moonlet as its origin. In addition to these data we present here a much more detailed analysis of the full catalogue of over 800 F ring mini-jets, examining their distribution, morphology and lifetimes in order to place constraints on the underlying moonlet population. We find mini-jets randomly located in longitude around the ring, with little correlation to the moon Prometheus, and randomly distributed in time, over the full Cassini tour to date. They have a tendency to cluster together, forming complicated 'multiple' structures, and have typical lifetimes of ∼ 1d. Repeated observations of some features show significant evolution, including the creation of new mini-jets, implying repeated collisions by the same object. This suggests a population of 1km radius objects with some internal strength and orbits spread over ±100km in semi-major axis relative to the F ring but with the majority within 20km. These objects likely formed in the ring under, and were subsequently scattered onto differing orbits by, the perturbing action of Prometheus. This reinforces the idea of the F ring as a region with a complex balance between collisions, disruption and accretion.

show abstract

“…Indeed it is true that N -body simulations show F-ring particles readily clump into gravitationally bound aggregates, akin to 'rubble piles' (Karjalainen and Salo, 2004;Latter et al, 2012b), whose further growth and collisional destruction characterise the general dynamics (Karjalainen, 2007;Hyodo and Ohtsuki, 2014). The collective outcome of aggregation and disruption has been theoretically explored using statistical methods similar to those employed in other astrophysical disks (Barbara and Esposito, 2002;Esposito et al, 2012). There remains, however, plenty of scope to further ap-ply the well developed techniques of debris disks and planet formation to this problem.…”

Section: Ringsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planetary Rings and Other Astrophysical Disks

Latter¹,

Ogilvie²,

Rein³

Planetary Ring Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter explores the physics shared by planetary rings and the various disks that populate the Universe. It begins with an observational overview, ranging from protoplanetary disks to spiral galaxies, and then compares and contrasts these astrophysical disks with the rings of the Solar System. Emphasis is placed on fundamental physics and dynamics, and how research into the two classes of object connects.

show abstract

A predator–prey model for moon-triggered clumping in Saturn’s rings

Cited by 28 publications

References 53 publications

The gravitational instability of a stream of co-orbital particles

The gravitational instability of a stream of co-orbital particles

A survey of low-velocity collisional features in Saturn’s F ring

Planetary Rings and Other Astrophysical Disks

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About