SPH/N-body simulations of small (D = 10 km) asteroidal breakups and improved parametric relations for Monte-Carlo collisional models [EPA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1803.10666


We report on our study of asteroidal breakups, i.e. fragmentations of targets, subsequent gravitational reaccumulation and formation of small asteroid families. We focused on parent bodies with diameters $D_{\rm pb} = 10$ km. Simulations were performed with a smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code combined with an efficient N-body integrator. We assumed various projectile sizes, impact velocities and impact angles (125 runs in total). Resulting size-frequency distributions are significantly different from scaled-down simulations with $D_{\rm pb} = 100$ km targets (Durda et al., 2007). We derive new parametric relations describing fragment distributions, suitable for Monte-Carlo collisional models. We also characterize velocity fields and angular distributions of fragments, which can be used as initial conditions for N-body simulations of small asteroid families. Finally, we discuss a number of uncertainties related to SPH simulations.

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P. Sevecek, M. Broz, D. Nesvorny, et. al.
Thu, 29 Mar 18
61/63

Comments: Accepted to Icarus