Dynamics of Enceladus and Dione inside the 2:1 Mean-Motion Resonance under Tidal Dissipation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical behavior of the Enceladus-Dione system during 2:1 mean-motion resonance crossing, incorporating tidal dissipation effects through numerical simulations and revealing new evolutionary scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical analysis of resonance crossing with tidal effects, uncovering novel evolutionary pathways not previously described.

Findings

Identification of main motion regimes during resonance crossing

Comparison with classical tidal evolution scenarios

Discovery of new evolution scenarios for the system

Abstract

In a previous work (Callegari and Yokoyama 2007, Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astr. vol. 98), the main features of the motion of the pair Enceladus-Dione were analyzed in the frozen regime, i.e., without considering the tidal evolution. Here, the results of a great deal of numerical simulations of a pair of satellites similar to Enceladus and Dione crossing the 2:1 mean-motion resonance are shown. The resonance crossing is modeled with a linear tidal theory, considering a two-degrees-of-freedom model written in the framework of the general three-body planar problem. The main regimes of motion of the system during the passage through resonance are studied in detail. We discuss our results comparing them with classical scenarios of tidal evolution of the system. We show new scenarios of evolution of the Enceladus-Dione system through resonance not shown in previous approaches of the problem.