Planetary Ring Dynamics -- The Streamline Formalism -- 1. From Boltzmann Equation to Celestial Mechanics

TL;DR

This paper introduces the streamline formalism for planetary ring dynamics, emphasizing ring microphysics, self-gravity, and density waves, based on Boltzmann equation moments, as a foundational and technical resource.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive introduction to the streamline formalism and technical insights for planetary ring dynamics, focusing on microphysics and wave phenomena, based on 1980s developed methods.

Findings

Formalism effectively models ring microphysics and self-gravity.

Analysis of linear and nonlinear density waves in rings.

Framework supports future detailed studies and updates.

Abstract

These 1992 lectures notes present a powerful formalism mostly developed in the 1980s by Borderies, Goldreich and Tremaine to address planetary ring dynamical issues. These notes make a special emphasis on ring microphysics, quantified with the help of the moments of the Boltzmann equation. They also focus on the standard self-gravity model of narrow ring rigid precession, and on the physics of linear and nonlinear density waves. These notes have been corrected but only very marginally extended and not updated. They are provided both as an introduction to the streamline formalism and as a complement on some technical issues for my upcoming review ("Theory of Narrow rings and Sharp Edges") that will cover the physics not addressed here along with more recent developments. This review will appear in the "Planetary Ring System" book (C. Murray and M. Tiscareno, eds.), to be published later on this year at Cambridge University Press.