The origin of the eccentricities of the rings of Uranus

Abstract

We consider the effect of gravitational perturbations from a nearby satellite on the eccentricity e of a narrow particulate ring. The perturbations near a resonance in an eccentric ring may be divided into corotation and Lindblad terms. For small e, the corotation terms damp e, whereas the Lindblad terms excite e. In the absence of saturation the corotation terms win by. a small margin, and e damps. However, if the perturbations open gaps at the strongest resonances, then the Lindblad terms win, and e grows. This result offers an explanation for the existence of both circular and eccentric rings around Uranus. We also show that eccentricity changes induced by circular rings on eccentric satellite orbits are similar to those induced by satellites with circular orbits on eccentric rings.

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