Physics
Scientific paper
Sep 1982
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1982jgr....87.7413h&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 87, Sept. 1, 1982, p. 7413-7420.
Physics
20
Planetary Evolution, Saturn Rings, Angular Velocity, Dust, Electromagnetic Interactions, Spokes
Scientific paper
It is suggested that the radial spokes observed in rotation across Saturn's B ring are composed of fine, charged dust levitated off the surfaces of larger bodies by electrostatic forces when the latter are sporadically charged to high electrostatic potentials. The time evolution of a spoke is likened to the continuous unfolding of a fan whose vertex is at the synchronous orbit, and whose corotating edge is fixed in the radial direction. According to the present model, the angular velocity of the fan leading edge depends on the age of the spoke, and it is anticipated that the observed scatter of the measured velocities about the Kepler value is real, rather than due to measurement errors, despite their presence inside the expected error bars. It is also shown that the resettling of the grains of dust on the larger bodies in the ring plane, following their initial levitation, results in a differential transport of grains across the ring plane, establishing different multimodal size distributions of dust within the spokes at different planetocentric distances.
Hill Richard J.
Mendis Asoka D.
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