Astronomy6 papers
The Yarkovsky effect
IŽ
Ivana Milić Žitnik
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The specific property of motion of resonant asteroids with very slow Yarkovsky drift speeds
Ivana Milić Žitnik (2019)
- Published
- Apr 20, 2019
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · Vol. 486 · No. 2
- DOI
- 10.1093/mnras/stz874
At a Glance
Numerical integrations reveal a drift-rate threshold below which asteroids “jump” quickly across Jupiter mean-motion resonances.
Summary
This paper shows that asteroids with extremely small Yarkovsky semimajor-axis drift rates can traverse Jupiter’s mean-motion resonances faster than expected, particularly for strong resonances. Using large ensembles of long-term numerical integrations, it identifies a behavioral “breakpoint” near |da/dt| ≈ 7×10⁻⁵ au/Myr: below this value, average resonance-induced delays become negative, indicating accelerated crossing. The result matters for modeling how main-belt asteroids migrate through resonances and may affect interpretations of asteroid-family spreading (e.g., V-shape curvature) when resonances are involved.
Method Snapshot
Long-duration N-body numerical integrations with an imposed constant Yarkovsky semimajor-axis drift, measuring resonance crossing lead/lag statistics across multiple Jupiter MMRs.
Background
Basic celestial mechanics of mean-motion resonances and the Yarkovsky effect in asteroid orbital evolution.