The equilibrium tide in viscoelastic parts of planets
Abstract
Earth-like planets have viscoelastic mantles, whereas giant planets may have viscoelastic cores. As for the fluid parts of a body, the tidal dissipation of such solid regions, gravitationally perturbed by a companion body, highly depends on the tidal frequency, as well as on the rheology. Therefore, modelling tidal interactions presents a high interest to provide constraints on planet properties, and to understand their history and their evolution. Here, we examine the equilibrium tide in the solid core of a planet, taking into account the presence of a fluid envelope. We explain how to obtain the different Love numbers that describe its deformation. Next, we discuss how the quality factor Q depends on the chosen viscoelastic model. Finally, we show how the results may be implemented to describe the dynamical evolution of planetary systems.
Origin : Publisher files allowed on an open archive
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