Statistics of impacts among orbiting bodies: a Monte Carlo approach

In this paper, we describe a method to investigate the statistics of collisions among bodies orbiting around a common central mass but not interacting with each other, like minor bodies of the Solar system. This method can be used to derive the frequency of collisions and the distribution of any dynamical parameter related to the collision circumstances. It is based on deriving the statistics of impacts from a random sampling of the orbital element space of the bodies under investigation. The fundamental approach is not new, but the mathematical framework is completely original and the final procedure is very simple and easily implementable. The motivation behind this work is to overcome all limitations due to the assumptions about the dynamical behaviour of orbits, which the methods developed so far are based on. We show all the theoretical details of the method and its practical usage, including the determination of error. We show a set of examples demonstrating the satisfactory agreement with independent approaches, when they are available. The limits and drawbacks of the methodology are also highlighted

Tecniche compositive del Digesto: citazioni reciproche tra giuristi come Paolo e Ulpiano e richiami a Gaio

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Is the Eureka cluster a collisional family of Mars Trojan asteroids?

We explore the hypothesis that the Eureka family of sub-km asteroids in the L5 region of Mars could have formed in a collision. We estimate the size distribution index from available information on family members; model the orbital dispersion of collisional fragments; and carry out a formal calculation of the collisional lifetime as a function of size. We find that, as initially conjectured by Rivkin et al (2003), the collisional lifetime of objects the size of (5261) Eureka is at least a few Gyr, significantly longer than for similar-sized Main Belt asteroids. In contrast, the observed degree of orbital compactness is inconsistent with all but the least energetic family-forming collisions. Therefore, the family asteroids may be ejecta from a cratering event sometime in the past ~1 Gyr if the orbits are gradually dispersed by gravitational diffusion and the Yarkovsky effect (Cuk et al, 2015). The comparable sizes of the largest family members require either negligible target strength or a particular impact geometry under this scenario (Durda et al, 2007; Benavidez et al, 2012). Alternatively, the family may have formed by a series of YORP-induced fission events (Pravec.et.al, 2010). The shallow size distribution of the family is similar to that of small MBAs (Gladman et al, 2009) interpreted as due to the dominance of this mechanism for Eureka-family-sized asteroids (Jacobson et al, 2014). However, our population index estimate is likely a lower limit due to the small available number of family asteroids and observational incompleteness. Future searches for fainter family members, further observational characterisation of the known Trojans' physical properties as well as orbital and rotational evolution modelling will help distinguish between different formation models.Comment: 3 Tables, 13 Figures, Accepted for publication in Icaru

The Gaia Mission and the Asteroids. A perspective from space astrometry and photometry for asteroids studies and science.

90 pagesThe Gaia space mission to be operated in early 2012 by the European Space Agency (ESA), will make a huge step in our knowledge of the Sun's neighbor-hood, up to the Magellanic clouds. Somewhat closer, Gaia will also provide ma jor improvements in the science of asteroids, and more generally to our Solar System, either directly or indirectly. Gaia is a scanning survey telescope aimed to perform high accuracy astrometry and photometry. More specifically it will provide physical and dynamical characterization of asteroids, a better knowledge of the solar system composition, formation and evolution, local test of the general relativity, and linking the dynamical reference frame to the kinematical ICRS. We develop here the general aspects of asteroid observations and the scientific harvest in perspective of what was achieved in the pre-Gaia era. In this lecture we focus on the determination of size of asteroids, shape and rotation, taxonomy, orbits and their improvements with historical highlight, and also the dynamical model in general

Spectral optical constants of ethanol and isopropanol from ultraviolet to far infrared

Ethanol and isopropanol are fluids of common use in different branches of materials science. In particular, in the ever growing field of nanoscience, they are dispersing media for nanoparticle suspensions. The knowledge of optical constants of these fluids is required for the characterization of optical properties of nanoparticles, besides providing insights into fundamental properties of fluids themselves. In this work, we calculated the real refractive index n of ethanol and isopropanol applying the Kramers-Kronig theory to the experimentally obtained k spectrum over an extremely wide spectral range, from 181 to ∼ 54000 cm-1

Corrigendum to "Optical constants of ethylene glycol over an extremely wide spectral range" [Opt. Mater. 37 (2014) 36-41]

The authors would like to integrate the information contained in the printed version of the above article by providing numerical data concerning Fig. 2 of the mentioned paper. A part of these data was already reported in Table 1 of the mentioned paper in a reduced form for space reasons

YORP-Yarkowski evolution of asteroid families: the effects of collisions

The depletion of objects in the central part of an asteroid family, which can be observed in the absolute magnitude vs. semimajor axis, can be explained in terms of a coupling of the YORP and Yarkovsky effects (Paolicchi and Knezevic, Icarus, 2016). In particular, it can be ascribed to the obliquity evolution caused by YORP and on how it influeces the Yarkovsky drift.With this work we intend to improve the modeling of YORP-Yarkovsky evolution of asteroid families exploiting a model which tracks the evolution of the spin vector of small asteroids, including also the effects of collisions on the YORP induced obliquity evolution. This allows a better modeling of the asteroid spin evolution.In these preliminary steps, we will first consider a few model families simulating their time evolution in the magnitude vs. semimajor axis plots. The obtained results will be then compared with observed families to determine and tune the intensity of the effect

The olivine-dominated composition of the Eureka family of Mars Trojan asteroids

We have used the XSHOOTER echelle spectrograph on the European Southern Obseratory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) to obtain UVB-VIS-NIR (ultraviolet-blue (UVB), visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR)) reflectance spectra of two members of the Eureka family of L5 Mars Trojans, in order to test a genetic relationship to Eureka. In addition to obtaining spectra, we also carried out VRI photometry of one of the VLT targets using the 2-m telescope at the Bulgarian National Astronomical Observatory - Rozhen and the two-channel focal reducer. We found that these asteroids belong to the olivine-dominated A, or Sa, taxonomic class. As Eureka itself is also an olivine-dominated asteroid, it is likely that all family asteroids share a common origin and composition. We discuss the significance of these results in terms of the origin of the martian Trojan population

Recent collisional history of (65803) Didymos

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART, NASA) spacecraft revealed that the primary of the (65803) Didymos near-Earth asteroid (NEA) binary system is not exactly the expected spinning top shape observed for other km-size asteroids. Ground based radar observations predicted that such shape was compatible with the uncertainty along the direction of the asteroid spin axis. Indeed, Didymos shows crater and landslide features, and evidence for boulder motion at low equatorial latitudes. Altogether, the primary seems to have undergone sudden structural failure in its recent history, which may even result in the formation of the secondary. The high eccentricity of Didymos sets its aphelion distance inside the inner main belt, where it spends more than 1/3 of its orbital period and it may undergo many more collisions than in the NEA region. In this work, we investigate the collisional environment of this asteroid and estimate the probability of collision with multi-size potential impactors. We analyze the possibility that such impacts produced the surface features observed on Didymos by comparing collisional intervals with estimated times for surface destabilization by the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect. We find that collisional effects dominate over potential local or global deformation due to YORP spin up.Project (PGC 2021) PID2021-125883NB-C21, by MICINN (Spanish Government): A.C.B., L.M.P., P.G.B. Call 2023 of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF, act n. 38/2023): A.D.O. ESA funding through the Science Faculty—Funding reference ESA-SCI-SC-LE-191: P.G.B. “Margarita Salas” postdoctoral grant by the Spanish Ministry of University—NextGenerationEU: L.M.P. CIAPOS/2022/066 postdoctoral grant (European Social Fund. Generalitat Valenciana): L.M.P. Italian Space Agency (ASI) funding within the LICIACube project (ASI-INAF agreement n. 2019-31-HH.0): A.L., M.P. HERA project (ASI-INAF agreement n. 2022-8-HH.0): A.L., M.P

Comparative study of different functionalized graphene-nanoplatelet aqueous nanofluids for solar energy applications

The optical properties of nanofluids are peculiar and interesting for a variety of applications. Among them, the high light extinction coefficient of nanofluids can be useful in linear parabolic concentrating solar systems, while their properties under high light irradiation intensities can be exploited for direct solar steam generation. The optical characterization of colloids, including the study of non-linear optical properties, is thus a needed step to design the use of such novel materials for solar energy exploitation. In this work, we analysed two different types of nanofluids, consisting of polycarboxylate chemically modified graphene nanoplatelets (P-GnP) and sulfonic acid-functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (S-GnP) dispersed in water, at three concentrations from 0.005 wt% to 0.05 wt%. Moderately stable nanofluids were achieved with favourable light extinction properties, as well as a non-linear optical behaviour under high input solar intensities