Stress field and spin axis relaxation for inelastic triaxial ellipsoids

Abstract

A compact formula for the stress tensor inside a self-gravitating, triaxial ellipsoid in an arbitrary rotation state is given. It contains no singularity in the incompressible medium limit. The stress tensor and the quality factor model are used to derive a solution for the energy dissipation resulting in the damping (short-axis mode) or excitation (long axis) of wobbling. In the limit of an ellipsoid of revolution, we compare our solution with earlier ones and show that, with appropriate corrections, the differences in damping times estimates are much smaller than it has been claimed.