Rings Research

I use this page to post general updates on the progress of my ring dynamics research so that people can see what I'm involved with. It will mainly have links to other pages that have the animations/images/descriptions of specific research projects. First, let me tell you a little about what I do in general terms.

Introduction

Most of my research work focuses on the dynamics of planetary rings. My work is done using a numerical simulation code that I have written that is optimized to handle collisional interactions and can be distributed across standard networks with high latency interconnects. Generally I explore systems that involve a perturbing force, such as a nearby or embedded moon.

Specific Projects

  1. Influence of Particle Size
  2. Particle Adhesion and Aggregate Formation (Not all rings related.)
  3. Silicates in the Rings
  4. Making moonlets
  5. Moonlet propellers (Paper 1, Paper 2)
  6. Negative Diffusion
  7. Global F ring Simulations
  8. Encke Gap Mapping
  9. Gravity Waves
  10. Keeler Gap

Papers Published

  1. Cassini Observation Predictions (Icarus 2005)
  2. First paper (AJ 2001)

A lot of my simulations are displayed as movies. Most of these were made by running images created with SwiftVis through mencoder. If you have trouble viewing them you can always download mplayer.