TY  - JOUR
A1  - Seiß, Martin
A1  - Albers, Nicole
A1  - Sremčević, Miodrag
A1  - Schmidt, Jürgen
A1  - Salo, Heikki
A1  - Seiler, Michael
A1  - Hoffmann, Holger
A1  - Spahn, Frank
T1  - Hydrodynamic Simulations of Moonlet-induced Propellers in Saturn's Rings
BT  - Application to Bleriot
JF  - The astronomical journal
N2  - One of the biggest successes of the Cassini mission is the detection of small moons (moonlets) embedded in Saturns rings that cause S-shaped density structures in their close vicinity, called propellers. Here, we present isothermal hydrodynamic simulations of moonlet-induced propellers in Saturn's A ring that denote a further development of the original model. We find excellent agreement between these new hydrodynamic and corresponding N-body simulations. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic simulations confirm the predicted scaling laws and the analytical solution for the density in the propeller gaps. Finally, this mean field approach allows us to simulate the pattern of the giant propeller Blériot, which is too large to be modeled by direct N-body simulations. Our results are compared to two stellar occultation observations by the Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (UVIS), which intersect the propeller Blériot. Best fits to the UVIS optical depth profiles are achieved for a Hill radius of 590 m, which implies a moonlet diameter of about 860 m. Furthermore, the model favors a kinematic shear viscosity of the surrounding ring material of ν0 = 340 cm2 s−1, a dispersion velocity in the range of 0.3 cm s−1 < c0 < 1.5 cm s−1, and a fairly high bulk viscosity 7 < ξ0/ν0 < 17. These large transport values might be overestimated by our isothermal ring model and should be reviewed by an extended model including thermal fluctuations.
KW  - diffusion
KW  - hydrodynamics
KW  - planets and satellites: rings
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aaed44
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
VL  - 157
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publishing Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grätz, Fabio M.
A1  - Seiß, Martin
A1  - Schmidt, Jürgen
A1  - Colwell, Joshua
A1  - Spahn, Frank
T1  - Sharp Gap Edges in Dense Planetary Rings
BT  - an Axisymmetric Diffusion Model
JF  - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2  - One of the most intriguing facets of Saturn's rings are the sharp edges of gaps in the rings where the surface density abruptly drops to zero. This is despite of the fact that the range over which a moon transfers angular momentum onto the ring material is much larger. Recent UVIS-scans of the edges of the Encke and Keeler gap show that this drop occurs over a range approximately equal to the rings' thickness. Borderies et al. show that this striking feature is likely related to the local reversal of the usually outward directed viscous transport of angular momentum in strongly perturbed regions. In this article we revise the Borderies et al. model using a granular flow model to define the shear and bulk viscosities, ν and ζ, and incorporate the angular momentum flux reversal effect into the axisymmetric diffusion model we developed for gaps in dense planetary rings. Finally, we apply our model to the Encke and Keeler division in order to estimate the shear and bulk viscosities in the vicinity of both gaps
KW  - celestial mechanics
KW  - diffusion
KW  - hydrodynamics
KW  - planets and satellites: rings
KW  - scattering
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab007e
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
VL  - 872
IS  - 2
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -