Why are dense planetary rings only found between 8 and 20 AU?

Abstract

The recent discovery of dense rings around the Centaur Chariklo (and possibly Chiron) reveals that complete dense planetary rings are not only found around Saturn and Uranus, but also around small bodies orbiting in the vicinity of those giant planets. This report examines whether there could be a physical process that would make rings more likely to form or persist in this particular part of the outer Solar System. Specifically, the ring material orbiting Saturn and Uranus appears to be much weaker than the material forming the innermost moons of Jupiter and Neptune. Also, the mean surface temperatures of Saturn's, Uranus' and Chariklo's rings are all close to 70 K. Thus the restricted distribution of dense rings in our Solar System may arise because icy materials are particularly weak around that temperature.

arXiv comment4 Pages, 1 Figure, Accepted for publication in APJL. Updated to fix small wording changes in proofs

References in corpus (12)

• A ring system detected around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo
• The Active Centaurs
• The Strength of Regolith and Rubble Pile Asteroids
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• Physical characteristics and non-keplerian orbital motion of "propeller" moons embedded in Saturn's rings
• Warm Saturns: On the Nature of Rings around Extrasolar Planets that Reside Inside the Ice Line
• Photometric and spectroscopic evidence for a dense ring system around Centaur Chariklo
• Compositions and origins of outer planet systems: Insights from the Roche critical density
• Mass and period limits on the ringed companion transiting the young star J1407
• Collisions of small ice particles under microgravity conditions

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• The First Near-Infrared Transmission Spectrum of HIP 41378 f, a Low-Mass Temperate Jovian World in a Multi-Planet System
• Possible Photometric Signatures of Moderately Advanced Civilizations: The Clarke Exobelt
• Systematic Search for Rings around Kepler Planet Candidates: Constraints on Ring Size and Occurrence Rate
• Cronomoons: origin, dynamics, and light-curve features of ringed exomoons
• Anomalous light curves of young tilted exorings
• The dynamics of rings around Centaurs and Trans-Neptunian Objects
• Observing Planetary Rings with JWST: Science Justification and Observation Requirements