On a possibility of transfer of asteroids from the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter to the Centaur zone

TL;DR

This study investigates the potential transfer of asteroids from the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter to the Centaur region through numerical simulations, identifying specific bodies that make this transition over tens of thousands of years.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of asteroid transfer mechanisms from the 2:1 resonance to the Centaur zone using numerical orbit evolution over 100,000 years.

Findings

Six bodies transferred from resonance to Centaur zone.

Transfer times ranged from 4,600 to 70,000 years.

Transfers occur after orbits leave the resonance and approach Jupiter.

Abstract

The paper analyses possible transfers of bodies from the main asteroid belt (MBA) to the Centaur region. The orbits of asteroids in the 2:1 mean motion resonance (MMR) with Jupiter are analysed. We selected the asteroids that are in resonant orbits with e > 0.3 whose absolute magnitudes H do not exceed 16m. The total number of the orbits amounts to 152. Numerical calculations were performed to evaluate the evolution of the orbits over 100,000-year time interval with projects for the future. Six bodies are found to have moved from the 2:1 commensurability zone to the Centaur population. The transfer time of these bodies to the Centaur zone ranges from 4,600 to 70,000 yr. Such transfers occur after orbits leave the resonance and the bodies approach Jupiter. Where after reaching sufficient orbital eccentricities bodies approach a terrestrial planet, their orbits go out of the MMR. Accuracy estimations are carried out to confirm the possible asteroid transfers to the Centaur region.