Theory of density waves in narrow planetary rings

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Density Wave Model, Planetary Rings, String Theory, Brillouin Zones, Natural Satellites, Uranus Rings

Scientific paper

This paper discusses the dynamic of narrow planetary rings in a general central potential. To avoid the instability of a self-gravitating fluid cylinder, the concept of a string, which consists of equidistant spherical agglomerations of small particles surrounded by a dust envelope, is introduced. Three different kinds of waves can propagate through the string; two of them have the character of density waves. The most important result of the theory is the stability of the string if the volume mass density lies below a critical value. For the F-ring of Saturn and the epsilon-ring of Uranus, numerical values for the critical densities are given. With the proposed density wave theory the occurrence of clumps in the ring, and the sinusoidal distortions of the whole ring in two dimensions, can be explained. The string model is a first step towards a general theory of planetary ring dynamics, which can be named the 'solid state approach'.

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