Issues

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1990

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February

  

Reviews of topical problems


The physics of planetary rings

 a,  b, c, d
a Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Simeiz, Crimea, Ukraine
b Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
c Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Pyatnitskaya 48, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation
d Russian Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’, Institute of Physics of Stochastic Structures, pl. Kurchatova 1, Moscow, 123182, Russian Federation

A review of the collisional, collective, and resonance phenomena in planetary rings is presented. The following questions are examined: the reasons for the existence of planetary rings and the properties of a typical particle, the collisional breaking of loose bodies, and the azimuthal asymmetry effect for the rings of Saturn. A transfer theory is being developed for differentially rotating disks of inelastic particles, and the collective instabilities of planetary rings and a protoplanetary disk are discussed. A model for the resonance origin for the rings of Uranus is described, which enabled one to predict unknown satellites of Uranus that were later discovered by ``Voyager-2''. The problem of the stability of the rings of Uranus is examined.

Fulltext pdf (1.9 MB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.1070/PU1990v033n02ABEH002544
PACS: 96.15.Uv, 96.30.Qk, 96.30.Wr, 97.10.Fy (all)
DOI: 10.1070/PU1990v033n02ABEH002544
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/1990/2/a/
Citation: Gor’kavyi N N, Fridman A M "The physics of planetary rings" Sov. Phys. Usp. 33 (2) 95–133 (1990)
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Îðèãèíàë: Ãîðüêàâûé Í Í, Ôðèäìàí À Ì «Ôèçèêà ïëàíåòíûõ êîëåö» ÓÔÍ 160 (2) 169–237 (1990); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0160.199002a.0169

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