Three-Body Capture of Jovian Irregular Satellites

Details Three-Body Capture of Jovian Irregular Satellites Three-Body Capture of Jovian Irregular Satellites

Jun 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dda....37.1304m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #37, #13.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.674

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We numerically examine the capture of irregular satellites via three-body encounters between binary asteroids and Jupiter. To capture directly to an orbit similar to those of today's jovian irregulars requires a large primary, as suggested by H. Levison [1] and others. However, such objects were probably rare, even in the early Solar System. Here we consider an alternate path which eliminates the need for the massive primary. Our approach requires two sequential steps: 1) capture to a very distant orbit, and 2) weak orbital decay over a long timescale. The key is that capture is achieved almost immediately, while the orbital evolution can take place very slowly. This is unlike pull-down or gas drag capture, where the energy change is gradual and, if strong enough to capture a satellite, must cease soon afterwards to prevent collision with the planet. Because the orbital evolution is decoupled from the capture process, our mechanism does not require an especially large impulsive change to the speed during capture, and hence small binary components are viable.
Our four-body simulations include binaries of various characteristics, Jupiter, and the Sun. The binaries begin outside Jupiter's Hill sphere and approach on low-speed trajectories. We are currently investigating the prevalence of these low-approach-speed orbits from the nearby asteroid populations. Capture via this method is possible for all asteroid sizes, though smaller sizes require more specialized orbits. We find that Jupiter can acquire both prograde and retrograde satellites, and that capture is not strongly affected by the planet's orbital eccentricity. The Jacobi constant can be particularly valuable in proving that capture is permanent in cases where Jupiter follows a circular path.
We gratefully acknowledge support from the NASA Origins program.
[1] Levison, H., 2005. Private communication.

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