Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p13b1674s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P13B-1674
Physics
[6265] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Planetary Rings, [6275] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturn
Scientific paper
Numerous resonances with external satellites excite density waves in Saturn's rings. A theoretical expression for the damping of these waves, when they propagate away from the resonance location, is derived from a fluid model (GT78: Goldreich and Tremaine, 1978, Icarus, 34, 240, see also: Shu et al., 1984, in Planetary Rings). The magnitude of the shear viscosity of Saturn's rings is inferred from comparison of this theory to the actual damping length of density waves observed in various data sets (e.g. Esposito et al., 1983, Lissauer et al., 1984, Tiscareno et al., 2007). In the theoretical expression for the damping length the fluid's bulk viscosity enters (in addition to the shear viscosity) as well as the dependence of both viscosities on the density of the ring matter. However, generally the bulk viscosity and the effects of the density dependences are neglected when the shear viscosity is inferred from the data. It has already been pointed out in the original paper (GT78) that this neglect lacks adequate justification. This raises the question in how far the inferred viscosities are representative for the rings. In particular, if one takes into acount the density dependence of the viscosities, the expression for the viscous damping transforms into a relation that is equivalent to the stability criterion for viscous overstability. In this case the theory implies that there might be ring regions where density waves do not damp at all but grow in amplitude (GT78). In this paper we re-derive the expression for the wave damping, including the terms stemming from the density dependence of the viscosities. We discuss their effect in the light of the presence of self-gravity wakes in the rings, contributing to viscosity, the probable detection of viscous overstability in parts of Saturn's ring system, and the behaviour of the Janus/Epimetheus m:m-1 wavetrains.
Salo Heikki
Schmidt Jonas
Spahn Frank
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