Angular momentum and stripping in tidal interactions

A variety of simulations is used here to study the effects of tidal torques on individual particles in interacting stellar systems. The torquing of particles into prograde orbits is shown to compensate for the preferential stripping of prograde orbits, indicating that satellite systems need not show a net retrograde rotation. Tidal remnants should show only moderate degrees of rotation, and prograde rotation may be nearly as common as retrograde. The tidal acceleration along individual orbits is shown to depend primarily on simple three-body interactions. The particle stripping probability is determined as a function of the various model orbital parameters, and prograde torquing as a function of the orbital parameters. Preferential stripping of prograde orbits is seen most strongly for particles in circular orbits, where the satellite is in an elliptical orbit. 36 refs