Neptune's Partial Rings: Action of Galatea on Self-Gravitating Arc Particles
Heikki Salo,
*
Jyrki Hänninen
Numerical simulations of Neptune's arcs show that self-gravity
between macroscopic arc particles can prevent interparticle impacts and
thereby stabilize their resonant confinement by Galatea, a satellite of
Neptune. Stable subkilometer arc particles provide a source for
replenishing the observed dust and explain the clumpy substructure seen
in arcs. A few confining kilometer-sized particles between the major
arc components can account for the observed arc widths spanning several
resonance sites. The modeled distribution of dust is consistent with
observations and helps to explain how embedded satellites may affect
the structure and evolution of planetary ring systems.
Division of Astronomy, Department of Physical Sciences, University
of Oulu, FIN-90570 Oulu, Finland.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
hsalo{at}sun3.oulu.fi
