Related papers: Resonantly-forced Eccentric Ringlets: Relationship…
We present an extensive data set of ~150 localized features from Cassini images of Saturn's Ring A, a third of which are demonstrated to be persistent by their appearance in multiple images, and half of which are resolved well enough to…
A planet's magnetosheath extends from downstream of its bow shock up to the magnetopause where the solar wind flow is deflected around the magnetosphere and the solar wind embedded magnetic field lines are draped. This makes the region an…
(Abridged) Planetesimals embedded in a protoplanetary disc are stirred by gravitational torques exerted by density fluctuations in the surrounding turbulence. In particular, planetesimals in a disc supporting fully developed…
Here we present the current state of knowledge on the long-term evolution of Saturn's moon system due to tides within Saturn. First we provide some background on tidal evolution, orbital resonances and satellite tides. Then we address in…
We consider the tidal interaction of a fully convective primary star and a point mass. Using a normal mode decomposition we calculate the evolution of the primary angular velocity and orbit for arbitrary eccentricity e. The dissipation…
Following the general numerical analysis of Melita and Woolfson (1996), I showed in a recent paper that a restricted, planar, circular planetary system consisting of Sun, Jupiter and Saturn would be captured in a near (2:1) resonance when…
Using orbital integration and analytical arguments, we have found a new mechanism (an "eccentricity trap") to halt type I migration of planets near the inner edge of a protoplanetary disk. Because asymmetric eccentricity damping due to…
Using the Andrade-derived Sundberg-Cooper rheology, we apply several improvements to the secular tidal evolution of TRAPPIST-1e and the early history of Pluto-Charon under the simplifying assumption of homogeneous bodies. By including…
Pairs of migrating extrasolar planets often lock into mean motion resonance as they drift inward. This paper studies the convergent migration of giant planets (driven by a circumstellar disk) and determines the probability that they are…
We propose a new mechanism which explains the existence of enormously sharp edges in the rings of Saturn. This mechanism is based on the synchronization phenomenon due to which the epicycle rotational phases of particles in the ring, under…
We aim to investigate the influence of the eccentricity and inclination damping due to planet-disc interactions on the final configurations of the systems, generalizing previous studies on the combined action of the gas disc and…
One possible scenario for the origin of the solar tachocline, known as the "fast tachocline", assumes that the turbulent diffusivity exceeds eta>10^9 cm^2/s. In this case the dynamics will be governed by the dynamo-generated oscillatory…
We have developed a semi-analytic method of parameterizing N-body simulations of self-gravity wakes in Saturn's rings, describing their properties by means of only 6 numbers: 3 optical depths and 3 weighting factors. These numbers are…
The large eccentricities of many giant extrasolar planets may represent the endpoint of gravitational scattering in initially more crowded systems. If so, the early evolution of the giant planets is likely to be more restrictive of…
The $\eta$ ring is one of the narrow rings of Uranus, consisting of a dense core that is 1-2 km wide and a diffuse outer sheet spanning about 40 km. Its dense core lies just exterior to the 3:2 Inner Lindblad Resonance of the small moon…
Recent observation of microlensing technique reveals two giant planets at 2.3 AU and 4.6 AU around the star OGLE-06-109L. The eccentricity of the outer planet (ec) is estimated to be 0.11(+0.17,-0.04), comparable to that of Saturn…
We use a global magnetohydrodynamic simulation of a geometrically thin accretion disk to investigate the locality and detailed structure of turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). The model disk has an aspect ratio $H…
We present a combined analytical approach and numerical study on the stability of a ring bound to an annular elastic substrate, which contains a circular cavity. The system is loaded by depressurizing the inner cavity. The ring is modeled…
This HDR-thesis is devoted to the study of the rotation of the natural satellites of the giant planets and of Mercury. These bodies have a resonant rotation. Most of the natural satellites rotate synchronously, showing the same hemisphere…
Perturbative analyses of planetary resonances commonly predict singularities and/or divergences of resonance widths at very low and very high eccentricities. We have recently re-examined the nature of these divergences using…