Astronomy15 papers
The Yarkovsky effect
IŽ
Ivana Milić Žitnik
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AstronomyWorth Reading
intermediate
The relationship between the `limiting' Yarkovsky drift speed and asteroid families' Yarkovsky V-shape
I. Milic-Zitnik (2020)
- Published
- Jan 1, 2020
- Journal
- Serbian Astronomical Journal · No. 200
- DOI
- 10.2298/SAJ2000025M
At a GlanceAI
Links a “limiting” Yarkovsky drift rate to slope breaks in old asteroid-family V-shapes near strong mean-motion resonances.
SummaryAI
This paper proposes that a previously defined threshold (“limiting”) Yarkovsky semimajor-axis drift rate (~7×10−5 au/Myr) leaves an observable imprint on asteroid-family V-shapes. Using a standard Yarkovsky scaling relation (calibrated to Bennu), it converts that limiting drift rate into family-specific “limiting diameters” and compares them to V-shape borders for 11 main-belt families. For very old families with relatively strong mean-motion resonances close to the parent body, the observed V-shape border changes slope near 1/D equal to the inverse limiting diameter, suggesting two dynamical regimes for resonance crossing; younger families or those lacking nearby strong resonances do not show this breakpoint. If robust, the result adds a resonance-dependent bias to how V-shapes are interpreted and could affect family-age inferences in resonance-rich regions.
Method SnapshotAI
Compute family-dependent limiting diameters from a Yarkovsky drift scaling law and compare them to observed V-shape border morphology across resonant and non-resonant families.
BackgroundAI
Background in asteroid-family identification and evolution, Yarkovsky/YORP thermal forces, and mean-motion resonances in celestial mechanics.
The main conclusion of this study is: the location of the inverse of the ‘limiting’ diameter 1/D(limit) (derived from the ‘limiting’ Yarkovsky drift speed, 7 × 10^(−5) au/Myr) is exactly at the place of changing the V-shape slope of the border in an old asteroid family which are crossed in the same side by relatively strong mean motion resonance, very close to the parent body, in the (a, 1/D) plane.
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