Charged Grains In Saturn's F-Ring: Interaction With Saturn's Magnetic Field

摘要

Saturn's dynamic F-Ring still presents a challenge for understanding andexplaining the kinematic processes that lead to the changing structure visiblein our observations of this ring. This study examines the effect of Saturn'smagnetic field on the dynamics of micron-sized grains that may becomeelectrically charged due to interaction with plasma in Saturn's rigidlycorotating magnetosphere. The numerical model calculates the dynamics ofcharged dust grains and includes forces due to Saturn's gravitational field,the plasma polarization electric field, a third order harmonic expansion ofSaturn's magnetic field, and the F Ring's Shepherding moons, Prometheus andPandora.