Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jun 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dda....37.1407h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #37, #14.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.676
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We use the rings model of Hahn (2003) to examine the secular evolution of a small satellite orbiting in a narrow gap in a dense planetary ring. The model shows that if the satellite has a small eccentricity, then its secular perturbations excites the eccentricities of the nearest ring particles orbiting at the gap edge. The ring's self-gravity then allows that disturbance to propagate outwards and across the ring in the form of a spiral density wave. Similarly, an inclined satellite also launches a spiral bending wave that propagates radially outwards from the gap's outer edge. When we use the rings model to consider Pan, which inhabits the Encke gap in Saturn's main A ring, we find that the satellite excites low amplitude spiral waves having very long wavelengths that are hundreds of km. Whether these low-amplitude waves might be observed by the Cassini spacecraft is also under investigation.
The excitation of these waves transmits angular momentum from the satellite to the ring, so this form of wave-action tends to damp the satellite's eccentricity and inclination. Note that the fates of a satellite's eccentricity and inclination are uncertain when it orbits in a gap. This is due to the competition between the satellite's many Lindblad resonances in the ring, which excites the satellite's eccentricity, and and its corotation resonances, which might or might not damp its eccentricity (Goldreich and Tremaine 1980, Goldreich and Sari 2003). The satellite's inclination is also precarious, since its many vertical resonances in the ring tends to pump up the satellite's inclination (Borderies et al 1984). However, the rings model shows that the satellite's secular perturbation of the ring tends to damp its eccentricity and inclination at rates that dwarf the excitation mechanisms. The stability of the satellite's eccentricity and inclination thus seems assured.
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