Wake patterns behind boulders in the rings of Saturn

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Abstract
The flow of charged dust around an electrically charged boulder moving through an environment thought to be typical of planatery rings is studied. As the boulder moves through the ring dust it will excite a V-shaped Mach cone pattern of a form and complexity which varies significantly with boulder size, relative velocity between the boulder and the dust, and with dust plasma conditions. Parameters relevant to the Saturnian ring system are used to compute examples which demonstrate the change in Mach cone patterns with the relevant parameters. Shortcomings of the model are discussed and ways to improve the calculations of Mach cone patterns are pointed out.