# Size Dependence of Dust Distribution around the Earth Orbit

## TL;DR

This study investigates how dust particle size influences the distribution around Earth's orbit, revealing that intermediate-sized asteroidal dust causes significant brightness asymmetry, but cometary dust dominates the infrared zodiacal light.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of dust size-dependent distribution and quantifies the relative contributions of asteroidal and cometary dust to zodiacal infrared emission.

## Key findings

- Intermediate-sized dust causes notable brightness asymmetry.
- Asteroidal dust contributes less than 10% to zodiacal infrared emission.
- Cometary dust of around 1 mm mainly accounts for the zodiacal light.

## Abstract

In the Solar System, interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) originating mainly from asteroid collisions and cometary activities drift to the Earth orbit due to the Poynting-Robertson drag. We analyzed the thermal emission from IDPs that was observed by the first Japanese infrared astronomical satellite, AKARI. The observed surface brightness in the trailing direction of the Earth orbit is 3.7% greater than that in the leading direction in the $9{\rm \mu m}$ band and 3.0% in the $18{\rm \mu m}$ band. In order to reveal dust properties causing the leading-trailing surface brightness asymmetry, we numerically integrated orbits of the Sun, the Earth, and a dust particle as a restricted three-body problem including radiation from the Sun. The initial orbits of particles are determined according to the orbits of main-belt asteroids or Jupiter-family comets. The orbital trapping in mean motion resonances results in a significant leading-trailing asymmetry so that intermediate sized dust (~10-100${\rm \mu m}$) produces a greater asymmetry than the zodiacal light has. The leading-trailing surface brightness difference integrated over the size distribution of the asteroidal dust is obtained to be the values of 27.7% and 25.3% in the $9{\rm \mu m}$ and $18{\rm \mu m}$ bands, respectively. In contrast, the brightness difference for cometary dust is calculated as the values of 3.6% and 3.1% in the $9{\rm \mu m}$ and $18{\rm \mu m}$ bands, respectively, if the maximum dust radius is set to be $s_{\rm max} = 3000{\rm \mu m}$. Taking into account these values and their errors, we conclude that the contribution of asteroidal dust to the zodiacal infrared emission is less than ~10%, while cometary dust of the order of 1 mm mainly accounts for the zodiacal light in infrared.