Orbital resonances in the inner neptunian system: II. Resonant history of Proteus, Larissa, Galatea, and Despina

Abstract

We investigate the orbital history of the small neptunian satellites discovered by Voyager 2. Over the age of the Solar System, tidal forces have caused the satellites to migrate radially, bringing them through mean-motion resonances with one another. In this paper, we extend our study of the largest satellites Proteus and Larissa [Zhang, K., Hamilton, D.P., 2007. Icarus 188, 386–399] by adding in mid-sized Galatea and Despina. We test the hypothesis that these moons all formed with zero inclinations, and that orbital resonances excited their tilts during tidal migration. We find that the current orbital inclinations of Proteus, Galatea, and Despina are consistent with resonant excitation if they have a common density 0.4 < ρ ¯ < 0.8 g / cm 3 . Larissa's inclination, however, is too large to have been caused by resonant kicks between these four satellites; we suggest that a prior resonant capture event involving either Naiad or Thalassa is responsible. Our solution requires at least three past resonances with Proteus, which helps constrain the tidal migration timescale and thus Neptune's tidal quality factor: 9000 < Q N < 36 , 000 . We also improve our determination of Q s for Proteus and Larissa, finding 36 < Q P < 700 and 18 < Q L < 200 . Finally, we derive a more general resonant capture condition, and work out a resonant overlap criterion relevant to satellite orbital evolution around an oblate primary.