Other
Scientific paper
Jan 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992phdt........14h&link_type=abstract
Ph.D. Thesis California Univ., Los Angeles.
Other
Density (Mass/Volume), Gravitational Effects, Planetary Rings, Stellar Occultation, Wave Interaction, Density Wave Model, Optical Thickness
Scientific paper
Planetary rings contain a wealth of wavelike structure that is driven by gravitational resonance interactions with nearby satellites. Wave behavior is a powerful tool for estimating physical ring parameters that are key to our understanding of ring origin and evolution. A new technique, utilizing the Burg autoregressive power spectral algorithm, was developed for probing the physical characteristics of rings and for detecting waves that are not otherwise visible. Data from the Voyager photopolarimeter (PPS) stellar occultations by the rings of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and the Voyager radio science (RSS) occultation by Saturn's rings were used. Local surface mass density estimates are obtained from the dispersion of 40 spiral density waves in Saturn's A ring, including 10 weaker waves not previously analyzed. Surface mass densities vary from 20 to 60 gm sq cm. Increasing optical depth is not correlated with increasing surface mass density, especially after the Keeler gap, suggesting that ring particle size and composition are not uniform throughout the A ring. Saturn's A ring mass is reestimated using the surface mass densities and is 5.2 +/- 1.3 x 1021 gm. The wakes of Saturn's satellite Pan are not short timescale phenomena because the effects of Pan's gravitational perturbations persist for more than one Pan encounter. Four additional Pan wakes were discovered at longitudes greater than 360 deg. Collective effects such as collisions modify the wake dispersion more extensively at greater longitudes. Pan is the dominant mass in the Encke gap. A spiral density wave was detected inside the Uranian delta ring. Upper and lower bounds were estimated for the surface mass density of the delta ring 5 less than or equal to sigma less than or equal to 10 gm/sq cm, the viscosity 10 less than or equal to nu less than or equal to 40 sq cm/sec, and the local ring height 7 less than or equal to h less than or equal to 20 m. These values are comparable to the corresponding values at Saturn. An Adams ring arc and the Leverrier ring were detected in the PPS data. The Adams arc is 43 km wide with an equivalent depth of 0.77 +/- 0.13 km. The Leverrier ring is 113 km in wide with an equivalent depth of 0.7 +/- 0.2 km.
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