On a possibility of transfer of asteroids from the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter to the Centaur zone
Anatolii Kazantsev & Lilia Kazantseva (2021)
- Published
- May 27, 2021
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · Vol. 505 · No. 1
- DOI
- 10.1093/mnras/stab1078
At a GlanceAI
Numerical integrations show some high-e 2:1 Jupiter-resonant asteroids can escape resonance and reach Centaur-like orbits in <100 kyr.
SummaryAI
The study tests whether asteroids trapped in Jupiter’s 2:1 mean-motion resonance can become Centaurs. By numerically evolving 152 resonant asteroids with eccentricity >0.3 for 100,000 years, the authors identify six objects that leave the resonance after close encounters (primarily with Jupiter) and transition into the Centaur region on 4,600–70,000 year timescales. This supports a concrete dynamical pathway by which a resonant main-belt population can supply at least part of the Centaur population and highlights resonance escape plus planetary encounters as the key mechanism. The work also includes accuracy checks intended to validate that the inferred transfers are dynamically plausible rather than numerical artifacts.
Method SnapshotAI
Numerical orbit integrations of a selected sample of 2:1 Jupiter-resonant asteroids over a 100,000-year timespan with follow-on projections and accuracy checks.
BackgroundAI
Celestial mechanics of mean-motion resonances, small-body orbital dynamics, and basic numerical integration concepts.