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arXiv 0912.3489astro-ph.EP
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土星外B环中的自由不稳定模和大质量天体

Free Unstable Modes and Massive Bodies in Saturn's Outer B Ring

Joseph N. Spitale, Carolyn C. Porco

摘要:

旅行者号的图像和卡西尼号的掩星数据先前已经表明,土星大质量B环外缘的行为只是部分地由与土卫一2:1的林德布拉德内共振的静态响应决定。在卡西尼图像的这一地区,我们发现,除了预期的波数-2被迫失真,非受迫自激波数-3,波数-2,和波数-1正常模式的证据。这是第一次观测到土星宽阔的光环中存在大量的波放大现象。此外,这些自由模式的存在强烈暗示粘性超稳定性是其根本原因,并且通过推断,在整个高质量密度B环和土星环中其他高质量密度区域中的大多数(如果不是全部)非受迫结构的原因。对每个推断波的分析揭示了环外250公里处的平均表面质量密度的一致下限约为44 g/cm^2,尽管真实的表面密度可能高达100 g/cm^2或更高。强迫和自由波数-2模式之间的干扰产生了一个总波数-2模式,其振幅和方向不同,特征周期约为5.5年。我们还发现了局部扰动,包括3.5公里高的垂直结构,这为土卫一共振区的嵌入式大质量天体提供了间接证据。这种天体的存在得到了环边缘附近约0.3公里宽的阴影投射小卫星的支持。

英文摘要:

Voyager images and Cassini occultation data have previously shown that the behavior of the outer edge of Saturn's massive B ring is determined only in part by a static response to the 2:1 inner Lindblad resonance with Mimas. In Cassini images of this region, we find, in addition to the expected wavenumber-2 forced distortion, evidence for unforced self-excited wavenumber-3, wavenumber-2, and wavenumber-1 normal modes. These are the first observations to suggest substantial wave amplification in Saturn's broad rings. Moreover, the presence of these free modes strongly implicates viscous overstability as their underlying cause and, by inference, the cause for most if not all of the unforced structures throughout the high-mass-density B ring and in other high-mass-density regions in Saturn's rings. Analysis of each of the inferred waves reveals a consistent lower bound on the average surface mass density of ~ 44 g/cm^2 for the outer 250 km of the ring, though the true surface density could be as high as 100 g/cm^2 or higher. Interference between the forced and free wavenumber-2 modes yields a total wavenumber-2 pattern that varies in amplitude and orientation with a characteristic period of ~ 5.5 years. We also find localized disturbances, including 3.5-km-tall vertical structures, that provide circumstantial evidence for embedded massive bodies in the Mimas resonance zone. The presence of such bodies is supported by the presence of a shadow-casting moonlet ~ 0.3 km wide near the ring's edge.

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