Shock Wave Dynamics in Planetary Rings

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Previously published models of nonlinear density waves and nonlinear satellite wakes in planetary rings have been based upon approximate solutions of kinetic equations or fluid models (Borderies et al. 1985, 1986 and Shu et al. 1985). Both of these research groups admitted it was difficult for their models to reproduce the short damping lengths that are observed for most density waves in Saturn's rings. The models also have difficulty explaining the amplitude and wavelength of the first two wave peaks in observed nonlinear density waves. Recent N-body simulations of nonlinear satellite wakes demonstrate that collisional damping in the wake peaks is enhanced by vertical splashing of particles associated with a loss of hydrostatic equilibrium in the vertical direction (Lewis and Stewart 2000). I will describe a new fluid model for nonlinear waves in planetary rings that includes deviations from hydrostatic equilibrium in the vertical direction. I will also show how collisional damping in nonlinear waves can be modeled as discontinuous shocks that abruptly decrease the orbital eccentricities of the particle orbits in the wave. Abrupt changes in the particle's semimajor axes must also occur in these shocks because the radial distance from Saturn does not change in an idealized shock.

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