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Planetary rings as relics of plasma pre-rings

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Abstract

A possibility is discussed that the rings of large planets observed in the modern epoch are relics of some pre-rings consisting of magnetized plasma (according to a hypothesis by H. Alfven). The solution to a model problem published in [36, 37] is used. Its main result is a mechanism of stratification of an evolutionally mature plasma pre-ring into a large number of narrow elite rings separated by anti-rings (gaps). Another result is the theoretical substantiation of the presence in the near-planetary space of a region of existence and stability (in what follows it is referred to as ES-region) of plasma rings. The data obtained in the course of the Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini missions are used below for verification of the model on which the solutions presented in [36, 37] are based.

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  1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya ul. 84/32, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    B. I. Rabinovich

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Original Russian Text © B.I. Rabinovich, 2007, published in Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, 2007, Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 44–58.

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Rabinovich, B.I. Planetary rings as relics of plasma pre-rings. Cosmic Res 45, 39–51 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952507010054

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952507010054

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