Orbital evolution under the action of fast interstellar gas flow with non-constant drag coefficient

Details Orbital evolution under the action of fast interstellar gas flow with non-constant drag coefficient Orbital evolution under the action of fast interstellar gas flow with non-constant drag coefficient

2012-03-04

arxiv.org/abs/1203.0773v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

12 pages, 6 figures, 2 figures added in v2

Scientific paper

The acceleration of a spherical dust particle caused by an interstellar gas flow depends on the drag coefficient which is, for the given particle and flow of interstellar gas, a specific function of the relative speed of the dust particle with respect to the interstellar gas. We investigate the motion of a dust particle in the case when the acceleration caused by the interstellar gas flow represent a small perturbation to the gravity of a central star. We present the secular time derivatives of the Keplerian orbital elements of the dust particle under the action of the acceleration from the interstellar gas flow, with a linear variability of the drag coefficient taken into account, for arbitrary orbit orientation. The semimajor axis of the dust particle is a decreasing function of time for an interstellar gas flow acceleration with constant drag coefficient and also for such an acceleration with a variable drag coefficient. The decrease of the semimajor axis is slower for the interstellar gas flow acceleration with a variable drag coefficient. The minimal and maximal values of the decrease of the semimajor axis are determined. In the planar case, when the velocity of hydrogen gas lies in the orbital plane of the particle, the orbit always approaches the position with the maximal value of the transversal component of the hydrogen gas velocity vector measured at perihelion. The properties of the orbital evolution derived from the secular time derivatives are consistent with numerical integrations of the equation of motion. If the interstellar gas flow speed is much larger than the speed of the dust particle, then the linear approximation of dependence of the drag coefficient on the relative speed of the dust particle with respect to the interstellar gas is usable for practically arbitrary values of the molecular speed ratios (Mach numbers).

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