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Deconvolving the complex structure of the asteroid belt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2024

Stanley F. Dermott Open the ORCID record for Stanley F. Dermott [Opens in a new window] ,
Dan Li  and
Apostolos A. Christou
Stanley F. Dermott*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, US
Dan Li*
Affiliation:
NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ 85719, US
Apostolos A. Christou*
Affiliation:
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG
*
email: sdermott@ufl.edu
email: dan.li@noirlab.edu
email: Apostolos.Christou@armagh.ac.uk
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Abstract

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The asteroid belt is a unique source of information on some of the most important questions facing solar system science. These questions include the sizes, numbers, types and orbital distributions of the planetesimals that formed the planets, and the identification of those asteroids that are the sources of meteorites and near-Earth asteroids. Answering these questions requires an understanding of the dynamical evolution of the asteroid belt, but this evolution is governed by a complex interplay of mechanisms that include catastrophic disruption, orbital evolution driven by Yarkovsky radiation forces, and chaotic orbital evolution driven by gravitational forces. While the timescales of these loss mechanisms have been calculated using estimates of some critical parameters that include the thermal properties, strengths and mean densities of the asteroids, we argue here that the uncertainties in these parameters are so large that deconvolution of the structure of the asteroid belt must be guided primarily by observational constraints. We argue that observations of the inner asteroid belt indicate that the size-frequency distribution is not close to the equilibrium distribution postulated by Dohnanyi (1969). We also discuss the correlations observed between the sizes and the orbital elements of the asteroids. While some of these correlations are significant and informative, others are spurious and may arise from the limitations of the Hierarchical Clustering Method that is currently used to define family membership.

Keywords

AsteroidsMain belt asteroidsNear-Earth objectsSmall solar system bodiesMeteorites
Type
Contributed Paper
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 18 , Symposium S382: Complex Planetary Systems II: Latest Methods for an Interdisciplinary Approach , December 2022 , pp. 86 - 97
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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

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