REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS

The physics of planetary rings

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© 1990 American Institute of Physics
, , Citation N N Gor'kavyĭ and Aleksei M Fridman 1990 Sov. Phys. Usp. 33 95 DOI 10.1070/PU1990v033n02ABEH002544

0038-5670/33/2/95

Abstract

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.

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10.1070/PU1990v033n02ABEH002544