Showing papers by "Scott Tremaine published in 1986"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of the Galactic disk potential on the Oort cloud and determined the rate of orbit evolution due to the Galactic tide by analyzing the orbit averaged Hamiltonian.
277 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a critere simple permettant de determiner si une fonction de distribution donnee est plus melangee qu'une autre is used for determining whether l'etat initial est froid or a grumeaux.
Abstract: On donne un critere simple permettant de determiner si une fonction de distribution donnee est plus melangee qu'une autre. On utilise ce critere pour montrer qu'une galaxie ayant subi une relaxation violente ne ressemble aux galaxies elliptiques observees que si l'etat initial est froid ou a grumeaux
210 citations
Journal Article•
199 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the Enskog theory of dense hard sphere gases is applied to differentially rotating dense particle disks in which the filling factor is not small, so that the ordinary Boltzmann kinetic theory is not accurate, and the authors show that the viscous instability which has been suggested as a source of the structure in Saturn's B ring does not arise in their models.
137 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that the incomplete rings of Neptune consist of a number of short arcs centered on the corotation resonances of a single satellite, and the estimated surface mass densities are comparable to those found in the major rings of Saturn and Uranus.
Abstract: It is proposed that the incomplete rings of Neptune consist of a number of short arcs centered on the corotation resonances of a single satellite. The satellite must have a radius of the order of 100 km or more and move on an inclined orbit. Corotation resonances are located at potential maxima. Thus, mechanical energy dissipated by interparticle collisions must be continually replenished to prevent the arcs from spreading. It is shown that each corotation resonance is associated with a nearby Lindblad resonance, which excites the ring particles' orbital eccentricity, thus supplying the energy required to maintain the arc. The ultimate energy reservoir is the satellite's orbital energy. Therefore, interaction with the arcs damps the satellite's orbital inclination. The self-gravity of the arcs limits their contraction and enforces a relation between arc length and mass. The estimated arc masses are so small, of the order of 10^16 g, that the satellite's orbital inclination suffers negligible decay over the age of the solar system. The inferred surface mass densities are comparable to those found in the major rings of Saturn and Uranus.
81 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the steady-state structure of the nonlinear density wave generated in a planetary ring at the Lindblad resonances of a satellite is discussed, and it is shown that strong density waves lead to an enhancement of the background surface density in the wave zone.
55 citations