Hydrodynamical simulations of viscous overstability in Saturn's rings

Henrik N. Latter , Gordon I. Ogilvie

We perform axisymmetric hydrodynamical simulations that describe the nonlinear outcome of the viscous overstability in dense planetary rings. These simulations are particularly relevant for observations of fine-scale structure in Saturn's A and B-ring, which take the form of periodic microstructure on the 0.1 km scale, and irregular larger-scale structure on 1-10 km. Nonlinear wavetrains dominate all the simulations, and we associate them with the observed periodic microstructure. The waves can undergo small chaotic fluctuations in their phase and amplitude, and may be punctuated by more formidable 'wave defects' distributed on longer scales. It is unclear, however, whether the defects are connected to the irregular larger-scale variations observed by. The long-term behaviour of the simulations is dominated by the imposed boundary conditions, and more generally by the limitations of the local model we use: the shearing box. When periodic boundary conditions are imposed, the system eventually settles on a uniform travelling wave of a predictable wavelength, while reflecting boundaries, and boundaries with buffer zones, maintain a disordered saturated state. The simulations omit self-gravity, though we examine its influence in future work.

Mots clés: Planetary Rings; Saturn; Rings; Collisional Physics

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Henrik N. Latter, Gordon I. Ogilvie. Hydrodynamical simulations of viscous overstability in Saturn's rings. Icarus, 2010, 210 (1), pp.318. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2010.06.014⟩. ⟨hal-00683831⟩