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The Darwin-Kaula theory of bodily tides is intended for celestial bodies rotating without libration. We demonstrate that this theory, in its customary form, is inapplicable to a librating body. Specifically, in the presence of libration in longitude, the actual spectrum of Fourier tidal modes differs from the conventional spectrum rendered by the Darwin-Kaula theory for a non-librating celestial object. This necessitates derivation of formulae for the tidal torque and the tidal heating rate, that are applicable under libration. We derive the tidal spectrum for longitudinal forced libration with one and two main frequencies, generalisation to more main frequencies being straightforward. (By main frequencies we understand those emerging due to the triaxiality of the librating body.) Separately, we consider a case of free libration at one frequency (once again, generalisation to more frequencies being straightforward). We also calculate the tidal torque. This torque provides correction to the triaxiality-caused physical libration. Our theory is not self-consistent: we assume that the tidal torque is much smaller than the permanent-triaxiality-caused torque; so the additional libration due to tides is much weaker than the main libration due to the permanent triaxiality. Finally, we calculate the tidal dissipation rate in a body experiencing forced libration at the main mode, or free libration at one frequency, or superimposed forced and free librations.
Internal dissipation in a tidally perturbed librating body differs from the tidal dissipation in a steadily spinning rotator. First, libration changes the spectral distribution of tidal damping across the tidal modes, as compared to the case of steady spin. This changes both the tidal heating rate and the tidal torque. Second, while a non-librating rotator experiences alternating deformation only due to the potential force exerted on it by the perturber, a librating body is also subject to a toroidal force proportional to the angular acceleration. Third, while the centrifugal force in a steadily spinning body renders only a permanent deformation, in a librating body this force contains two alternating components $-$ one radial, another a degree-2 potential force. Both contribute to heating, as well as to the tidal torque and potential. We build a formalism to describe dissipation in a homogeneous terrestrial body performing small-amplitude libration in longitude. This formalism incorporates a linear rheological law defining the response of the material to forcing. While the formalism can work with an arbitrary linear rheology, we consider a simple example of a Maxwell material. We show that, independent of rheology, the forced libration in longitude can provide a considerable and even leading input in the tidal heating. Based on the observed parameters, this input amounts to 52% in Phobos, 33% in Mimas, 23% in Enceladus, and 96% in Epimetheus. This supports the hypothesis by Makarov & Efroimsky (2014) that the additional damping due to forced libration may have participated in the early heating up of some moons. As one possibility, a moon could have been chipped by collisions $-$ whereby it acquired a higher triaxiality and a higher forced-libration magnitude and, consequently, a higher heating rate. After the moon warms up, its triaxiality reduces, and so does the tidal heating.
Spin-orbit coupling is often described in the MacDonald torque approach which has become the textbook standard. Within this method, a concise expression for the additional tidal potential, derived by MacDonald (1964; Rev. Geophys. 2, 467), is combined with an assumption that the Q factor is frequency-independent (i.e., that the geometric lag angle is constant in time). This makes the approach unphysical because MacDonalds derivation of the said formula was implicitly based on keeping the time lag frequency-independent, which is equivalent to setting Q to scale as the inverse tidal frequency. The contradiction requires the MacDonald treatment of both non-resonant and resonant rotation to be rewritten. The non-resonant case was reconsidered by Efroimsky & Williams (2009; CMDA 104, 257), in application to spin modes distant from the major commensurabilities. We continue this work by introducing the necessary alterations into the MacDonald-torque-based model of falling into a 1:1 resonance. (For the original version of the model, see Goldreich 1966; AJ 71, 1.) We also study the effect of the triaxiality on both circulating and librating rotation near the synchronous state. Circulating rotation may evolve toward the libration region or toward a spin rate larger than synchronous (pseudosynchronous spin). Which behaviour depends on the eccentricity, the triaxiality of the primary, and the mass ratio of the secondary and primary bodies. The spin evolution will always stall for the oblate case. For small-amplitude librations, expressions are derived for the libration frequency, damping rate, and average orientation. However, the stability of pseudosynchronous spin hinges upon the dissipation model. Makarov and Efroimsky (2012; arXiv:1209.1616) have found that a more realistic dissipation model than the corrected MacDonald torque makes pseudosynchronous spin unstable.
In 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto and its moon Charon, providing the first clear look at the surface of Charon. New Horizons images revealed an ancient surface, a large, intricate canyon system, and many fractures, among other geologic features. Here, we assess whether tidal stresses played a significant role in the formation of tensile fractures on Charon. Although presently in a circular orbit, most scenarios for the orbital evolution of Charon include an eccentric orbit for some period of time and possibly an internal ocean. Past work has shown that these conditions could have generated stresses comparable in magnitude to other tidally fractured moons, such as Europa and Enceladus. However, we find no correlation between observed fracture orientations and those predicted to form due to eccentricity-driven tidal stress. It thus seems more likely that the orbit of Charon circularized before its ocean froze, and that either tidal stresses alone were insufficient to fracture the surface or subsequent resurfacing remove these ancient fractures.
In this note we study graphs $G_r$ with the property that every colouring of $E(G_r)$ with $r+1$ colours admits a copy of some graph $H$ using at most $r$ colours. For $1le rle e(H)$ such graphs occur naturally at intermediate steps in the synthesis of a $2$-colour Ramsey graph $G_1longrightarrow H$. (The corresponding notion of Ramsey-type numbers was introduced by Erdos, Hajnal and Rado in 1965 and subsequently studied by Erdos and Szemeredi in 1972). For $H=K_n$ we prove a result on building a $G_{r}$ from a $G_{r+1}$ and establish Ramsey-infiniteness. From the structural point of view, we characterise the class of the minimal $G_r$ in the case when $H$ is relaxed to be the graph property of containing a cycle; we then use it to progress towards a constructive description of that class by proving both a reduction and an extension theorem.
Stars hosting hot Jupiters are often observed to have high obliquities, whereas stars with multiple co-planar planets have been seen to have low obliquities. This has been interpreted as evidence that hot-Jupiter formation is linked to dynamical disruption, as opposed to planet migration through a protoplanetary disk. We used asteroseismology to measure a large obliquity for Kepler-56, a red giant star hosting two transiting co-planar planets. These observations show that spin-orbit misalignments are not confined to hot-Jupiter systems. Misalignments in a broader class of systems had been predicted as a consequence of torques from wide-orbiting companions, and indeed radial-velocity measurements revealed a third companion in a wide orbit in the Kepler-56 system.