Possibility of transporting material from Ceres to NEO region via 8:3 MMR with Jupiter

TL;DR

This study explores the potential for material transfer from Ceres to near-Earth objects via the 8:3 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, using FLI maps and long-term orbital simulations to assess stability and transfer likelihood.

Contribution

It introduces a method combining FLI maps and long-term integrations to evaluate the feasibility of material transport from Ceres through the 8:3 MMR with Jupiter.

Findings

Most stable particles in the 8:3 MMR can reach near-Earth space within 15 million years.

Unstable particles frequently reach orbits with q ≤ 1.3 AU, indicating potential transfer pathways.

Short-term FLI maps are more effective for identifying chaotic orbits than stable ones.

Abstract

In this work we investigate the possibility of transporting material to the NEO region via the 8:3 MMR with Jupiter, potentially even material released from the dwarf planet Ceres. By applying the FLI map method to the 8:3 MMR region in the orbital plane of Ceres, we were able to distinguish between stable and unstable orbits. Subsequently, based on the FLI maps (for mean anomaly $M=60^\circ$ and also $M=30^\circ$), 500 of the most stable and 500 of the most unstable particles were integrated for $15\,Myr$ for each map. Long-term integration in the case of $M=60^\circ$ showed that most of the stable particles evolved, in general, in uneventful ways with only 0.8\% of particles reaching the limit of q $\leq$ 1.3 $AU$. However, in the case of $M=30^\circ$, a stable evolution was not confirmed. Over 40\% of particles reached orbits with q $\leq$ 1.3 $AU$ and numerous particles were ejected to hyperbolic orbits or orbits with a > 100 $AU$. The results for stable particles indicate that short-term FLI maps are more suitable for finding chaotic orbits, than for detecting the stable ones. A rough estimate shows that it is possible for material released from Ceres to get to the region of 8:3 MMR with Jupiter. A long-term integration of unstable particles in both cases showed that transportation of material via 8:3 MMR close to the Earth is possible.