Dust production through collisions between small bodies: an application to the G-ring arc

TL;DR

This paper explores how collisions involving Aegaeon and other bodies can replenish dust in Saturn's G-ring arc, combining simulations to evaluate dust production efficiency and its implications for the arc's longevity.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation-based analysis of dust production mechanisms in Saturn's G-ring arc, emphasizing the role of impacts involving Aegaeon, which was not previously quantified.

Findings

Impacts with Aegaeon are more effective at producing dust than collisions among macroscopic bodies.

Collisional dust production can sustain the arc over thousands of years despite rapid particle depletion.

The study provides conservative estimates for dust generation rates in the G-ring arc.

Abstract

The G-ring arc of Saturn, confined by the 7:6 corotation eccentric resonance with Mimas, is primarily composed of micrometric particles. These particles, significantly influenced by the solar radiation pressure, are subject to rapid depletion. This study investigates a mechanism for dust replenishment in the arc, specifically analyzing collisions between macroscopic bodies and the satellite Aegaeon. Utilizing N-body and Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations, we assess the dust generation from these impacts, with a focus on the most likely collision parameters derived from the N-body simulations. Our findings indicate that, while collisions among macroscopic bodies are inefficient for dust production, impacts involving Aegaeon are substantially more effective, providing conservative lower limits for dust generation. This mechanism, in conjunction with the natural decay processes and continuous dust generation from impacts, potentially keeps the arc population over thousands of years with a possible variation in brightness.