Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0707d&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #7.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.420
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Planetary rings owe their existence to tidal forces, which frustrate accretion into larger bodies. Models for ring origin include (1) formation in situ, (2) disruption of moons by cometary impacts, and (3) tidal disruption of an interloping comet or Centaur (Pollack 1975). Model (2) is popular, but has trouble producing Saturn's massive ring system. Dones (1991) applied model (3) to Saturn's rings, basing his results on existing analytic expressions and estimating the rate of ring formation from the single Saturn-crossing Centaur (Chiron) then known. Since 1991, many Saturn-crossers have been discovered and our understanding of tidal disruption has advanced, particularly through models of the breakup of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Asphaug & Benz (1996) [AB96] treated SL9 as a strengthless rubble pile, and modeled its disruption with a fast N-body code that included self-gravity and a simple model of collisions. We are using a modified version of AB96's code to follow the tidal disruption of a wide variety of model Centaurs that pass within Saturn's Roche radius. Our simulations have four free parameters: the Centaur's approach velocity to Saturn (v∞), closest approach distance to Saturn (q), size (r), and rotation state. Mass capture is favored for events with small v∞ and q, large r, and fast direct rotation (Richardson et al. 1998). We will present results on how efficiently tidal disruption can produce Saturn-like ring systems, and will try to constrain the heliocentric orbits of plausible ring parent bodies. In future work, we will consider the subsequent gravitational and collisional interactions between fragments until a ring forms. We thank the NASA PGG program for support.
Asphaug E; Benz W 1996. Icarus 121, 225.
Dones L 1991. Icarus 92, 194.
Pollack JB 1975. Space Sci. Rev. 18, 3.
Richardson DC; Bottke WF; Love SG 1998. Icarus 134, 47.
Agnor Craig Bruce
Asphaug Erik
Dones Henry C.
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