A possible mechanism of the Kirkwood gap formations at the very beginning

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation mechanisms of the Kirkwood gaps, focusing on the 2:1 resonance with Jupiter, and suggests that early solar system conditions and non-gravitational effects played a significant role.

Contribution

It proposes a new explanation for the early formation of the 2:1 Kirkwood gap involving non-gravitational effects like the Yarkovsky effect under different early solar conditions.

Findings

The 2:1 resonance contains many fragments from asteroid families.

Numerical simulations show eccentricity increases in 3:1 and 5:2 resonances.

Non-gravitational effects could explain the gap formation in the early Solar system.

Abstract

The orbits of asteroids from the MPC catalogue of May 31, 2020 with absolute magnitudes H < 16m, in the 3:1, 5:2 and 2:1 mean motion resonances (MMRs) with Jupiter were selected. The number of the orbits in the 2:1 MMR is dozens times greater than in the other two resonances. There are fragments of parent bodies of neighbour asteroid families, in particular the Themis family, among bodies in the 2:1 MMR. Numerical calculations were performed to evaluate the evolution of the selected orbits over hundreds of thousand years. Perturbations from all eight major planets and the relativistic effects of orbital perihelion displacement were taken into account. For all orbits in the 3:1 and 5:2 MMRs an increase in the orbit eccentricities, which are sufficient for the bodies to approach Mars, was obtained. In the 2:1 MMR, a sufficient increase in the orbit eccentricities was not detected. An increase in orbit eccentricities in this resonance can occur due to the action of non-gravitational effects (NGEs). The action of the Yarkovsky effect can explain the exit of an asteroid with a size of 5 km from the 2:1 MMR over a period about 1 billion years or more. More than 2 billion years ago, there were dozens of bodies over 50 km in size in the 2:1 gap. To form the gap in the 2:1 resonance at the very beginning, the physical conditions in the asteroid belt had to be significantly different from the today ones. In particular, the intensity of the solar radiation in the early Solar system could be much higher as compared to the today one.