Modeling Saturn's D68 clumps as a co-orbital satellite system

TL;DR

This study investigates whether the D68 ringlet's four observed clumps in Saturn's rings could be explained by a co-orbital satellite system, concluding that an additional unseen object or external force is likely involved.

Contribution

The paper introduces a co-orbital satellite model for D68's clumps and demonstrates its limitations, suggesting external confinement forces are necessary.

Findings

No four-mass solutions match observed spacings.

A five-co-orbital-object model can fit the data with certain mass ratios.

The system's sensitivity indicates external forces likely confine the ringlet.

Abstract

The D68 ringlet is the innermost feature in Saturn's rings. Four clumps that appeared in D68 around 2014 remained evenly spaced about 30 degrees apart and moved very slowly relative to each other from 2014 up until the last measurements were taken in 2017. D68's narrowness and the distribution of clumps could either indicate that we have a collection of source bodies in a co-orbital configuration or imply that an outside force confines the observed dust and any source bodies. In this paper we explore the possibility that these four clumps arose from four source bodies in a co-orbital configuration. We find that there are no solutions with four masses that produce the observed spacings. We therefore consider whether an unseen fifth co-orbital object could account for the discrepancies in the angular separations and approach a stable stationary configuration. We find a range of solutions for five co-orbital objects where their mass ratios depend on the assumed location of the fifth mass. Numerical simulations of five co-orbitals are highly sensitive to initial conditions, especially for the range of masses we would expect the D68 clumps to have. The fragility of our D68 co-orbital system model implies that there is probably some outside force confining the material in this ringlet.