Origin of the orbital distribution of main-belt asteroid

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Apart from an intricate distribution in semi-major axis (i.e. Kirkwood gaps), main-belt asteroids are also characterized by a broad distribution of eccentricities (up to 0.3) and inclinations (up to 25 deg). So far, no dynamical evolution model that begins with an initially circular and co-planar distribution has been able to reproduce this observation. In this paper we describe a new model, referring to the early stages of evolution of our system, when a massive gaseous disc was still present. The planetary system is assumed to be composed of the giant planets, which resided on a set of multi-resonant orbits (similar to the Galilean satellites, as predicted by modern formation models) as well as a ~5 Jupiter mass gaseous disc, interior to the orbit of Jupiter. As the gas disc evaporates, a series of previously unknown secular resonances "sweeps" through the inner solar system; these "new" resonances only become active because of the multi-resonant planetary orbits, which lead to very different precession frequencies than the current ones. Resonance sweeping excites and mixed the eccentricities and inclinations of the asteroids, leading to a final distribution that is very similar to the currently observed one. Very little mass is lost from the belt during the same time, which implies that it need not have been much more massive in the past, as previous models have suggested. Finally, as resonance sweeping is halted near 1.2 AU from the Sun, an inner edge is formed in the inner disc of solids, a fact which is crucial for terrestrial planet formation models, in order to explain the anomalously small value of Mars's mass.

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