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
T2  - 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
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/50843
SN  - 0004-6256
SN  - 1538-3881
VL  - 157
IS  - 1
PB  - IOP Publishing Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -