TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grätz, Fabio M.
A1  - Seiss, Martin
A1  - Spahn, Frank
T1  - Formation of moon-induced gaps in dense planetary rings
BT  - application to the rings of saturn
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - We develop an axisymmetric diffusion model to describe radial density profiles in the vicinity of tiny moons embedded in planetary rings. Our diffusion model accounts for the gravitational scattering of the ring particles by an embedded moon and for the viscous diffusion of the ring matter back into the gap. With test particle simulations, we show that the scattering of the ring particles passing the moon is larger for small impact parameters than estimated by Goldreich & Tremaine and Namouni. This is significant for modeling the Keeler gap. We apply our model to the gaps of the moons Pan and Daphnis embedded in the outer A ring of Saturn with the aim to estimate the shear viscosity of the ring in the vicinity of the Encke and Keeler gap. In addition, we analyze whether tiny icy moons whose dimensions lie below Cassini's resolution capabilities would be able to explain the gap structure of the C ring and the Cassini division.
KW  - diffusion
KW  - planets and satellites: rings
KW  - scattering
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aace00
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 862
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -