01/abril/22 – Collisions between macroscopic bodies immersed in planetary rings (MSc Patricia Buzzatto, GDOP/UNESP)

Since the discovery of Neptune’s arcs in the Adams ring, several models have been developed to explain these azimuthally confined structures. However, further efforts are still necessary to resolve the production of dust to explain their compatible density with their brightness.
We analyzed the collision between bodies immersed in planetary rings and how some of their physical properties, can change the collisional outcomes, cable to generate dust, or create small satellites by agglutination.
The planetary ring’s expected physical properties (mixed ice-rock composition, high porosity, and low material strength) pose significant computational challenges, because it is necessary a method that allows detailed modeling of shock propagation and material modification as well as gravitational reaccumulation, while there is a reasonable running time simulation and keeping the errors low.
This research project used the SPH method based on the miluphcuda code. From the results of the disruption of small bodies at collisions using a hybrid hydrocode to the N-body code computational technique, the results were combined with analytical models to estimate the production rate of dust.