FOSSIL: I. The Spin Rate Limit of Jupiter Trojans

TL;DR

This study measures the rotation periods of small Jupiter Trojans, revealing a spin rate limit near 4 hours and suggesting a rubble-pile structure with a specific bulk density, expanding understanding of their physical properties.

Contribution

First reported rotation periods for JTs smaller than 10 km, establishing a lower spin rate limit and implications for their internal structure.

Findings

Rotation period lower limit near 4 hours.

Bulk density of 0.9 g/cm³ needed for structural integrity.

First periods measured for JTs with D < 10 km.

Abstract

Rotation periods of 53 small (diameters $2 < D < 40$ km) Jupiter Trojans (JTs) were derived using the high-cadence light curves obtained by the FOSSIL phase I survey, a Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam intensive program. These are the first reported periods measured for JTs with $D < 10$ km. We found a lower limit of the rotation period near 4 hr, instead of the previously published result of 5 hr (Ryan et al. 2017; Szabo et al. 2017, 2020) found for larger JTs. Assuming a rubble-pile structure for JTs, a bulk density of 0.9 gcm$^{-3}$ is required to withstand this spin rate limit, consistent with the value $0.8-1.0$ gcm$^{-3}$ (Marchis et al. 2006; Mueller et al. 2010; Buie et al. 2015; Berthier et al. 2020) derived from the binary JT system, (617) Patroclus-Menoetius system.