Tidal and Dynamical Evolution of Binary Asteroids

Details Tidal and Dynamical Evolution of Binary Asteroids Tidal and Dynamical Evolution of Binary Asteroids

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dda....40.1002j&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DDA meeting #40, #10.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.904

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Scientific paper

We derive a realistic model for the evolution of a tidally perturbed binary, using classical theory, to examine the system just after a spin-up fission event. The spin rate of an asteroid can be increased by the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect -- thermal re-radiation from an asymmetric body, which induces torques that can rotationally accelerate the body. If the asteroid is modeled as a "rubble pile", a collection of gravitationally bound gravel with no tensile strength, increasing the spin rate will lead to a fission process that would resemble that of a viscous fluidic body [Holsapple 2007]. However, high-resolution imagery of an asteroid's constituents indicates that there is a significant distribution of size scales. A specific example is the asteroid Itokawa, which appears to be two such rubble piles in contact with each other [Fujiwara 2006]. The shape of these bodies will be irregular (modeled as tri-axial ellipsoids with a gravitational potential expanded up to second order). Their motions will raise tides on the opposing body. These tides will dissipate energy, potentially providing enough energy loss for the system to settle into a stable orbit. Fissioned binary systems are always initially unstable [Scheeres 2009, 2008]. We expect tidal dissipation rates to vary widely during the initial evolution of the system, due to this instability. The model applies instantaneous tidal torques to determine energy loss. Our preliminary results indicate that tidal energy dissipation could relax the system to a state of relative equilibrium on order 100,000 years, creating systems similar to those observed.
Holsapple, K. A., Icarus, 187, 2007.
Fujiwara, A., Science, 312, 2006.
Scheeres, D., CMDA, 2009 (Accepted Jan 10, 2009).
Scheeres, D., AAS, DDA meeting #39, #9.01, 2008.

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