Constraining Saturn’s Interior with Ring Seismology: Effects of Differential Rotation and Stable Stratification

Normal mode oscillations in Saturn excite density and bending waves in the C ring, providing a valuable window into the planet’s interior. Saturn’s fundamental modes (f-modes) excite the majority of the observed waves, while gravito-inertial modes (rotationally modified g-modes) associated with stable stratification in the deep interior provide a compelling explanation for additional density waves with low azimuthal wavenumbers m. However, multiplets of density waves with nearly degenerate frequencies, including an m = 3 triplet, still lack a definitive explanation. We investigate the effects of rapid and differential rotation on Saturn’s oscillations, calculating normal modes for independently constrained interior models. We use a non-perturbative treatment of rotation that captures the full effects of the Coriolis and centrifugal forces, and consequently the mixing of sectoral f-modes with g-modes characterized by very different spherical harmonic degrees. Realistic profiles for differential rotation associated with Saturn’s zonal winds can enhance these mode interactions, producing detectable oscillations with frequencies separated by less than 1%. Our calculations demonstrate that a three-mode interaction involving an f-mode and two g-modes can feasibly explain the finely split m = 3 triplet, although the fine-tuning required to produce such an interaction generally worsens agreement with seismological constraints provided by m = 2 density waves. Our calculations additionally demonstrate that sectoral f-mode frequencies are measurably sensitive to differential rotation in Saturn’s convective envelope. Finally, we find that including realistic equatorial antisymmetry in Saturn’s differential rotation profile couples modes with even and odd equatorial parity, producing oscillations that could in principle excite both density and bending waves simultaneously.