Stability and bifurcations of resonances in ring's dynamics

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability and bifurcations of resonances in a particle's dynamics within a rotating triaxial ellipsoid, using perturbation and bifurcation theories to understand phase space structures and resonance behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a Hamiltonian model with normal form expansions to study resonance stability and bifurcations in ring dynamics around celestial bodies.

Findings

Normal form verified to be non-degenerate, ensuring invariant KAM tori.

Phase space analysis reveals stability of corotation, 1:2, and 1:3 resonances.

The 1:3 resonance shows no bifurcations in studied cases, indicating higher stability.

Abstract

We use perturbation theory and bifurcation theory to analyze the dynamical behavior of resonances, associated to a model describing a particle moving within a ring around a celestial object. The central body is modeled as a homogeneous triaxial ellipsoid, rotating about its shortest physical axis at a constant angular velocity. It is assumed that the massless ring particle moves within the equatorial plane of the ellipsoid. The dynamics of the particle is studied using epicyclic variables, that lead to a straightforward definition of corotation and Lindblad resonances. These resonances are associated to a Hamiltonian function with two degrees of freedom, for which we compute appropriate expansions for the normal form and the resonant Hamiltonian. Initially, the normal form is verified to be non--degenerate, thereby guaranteeing the existence of invariant KAM tori, providing the stability of the resonances, through their confinement in phase space. Subsequently, two exemplary test cases are examined: a nearly spherical ellipsoid and a highly aspherical ellipsoid. Furthermore, this study concentrates on three principal resonances: corotation, 1:2, and 1:3, for which we present results concerning their dynamical behavior obtained analyzing the Hamiltonian formulation of the model and the resonant normal form. Specifically, we examine the phase space structure, the amplitude of libration around the resonances, and the occurrence of bifurcations. Remarkably, in none of the two studied test cases the 1:3 resonance presents evidence of bifurcations for relevant values of the eccentricity. Our dynamical study thus supports a greater probability of selecting the $1:3$ resonance in comparison to the other resonances.