SPH simulations of high-speed collisions between asteroids and comets [EPA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2205.14370


We studied impact processes by means of smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. The method was applied to modeling formation of main-belt families during the cometary bombardment (either early or late, ${\sim}\,3.85\,{\rm Gy}$ ago). If asteroids were bombarded by comets, as predicted by the Nice model, hundreds of asteroid families (catastrophic disruptions of diameter $D \ge 100\,{\rm km}$ bodies) should have been created, but the observed number is only 20. Therefore we computed a standard set of 125 simulations of collisions between representative $D = 100\,{\rm km}$ asteroids and high-speed icy projectiles (comets). According to our results, the largest remnant mass $M_{\rm lr}$ is similar as in low-speed collisions, due to appropriate scaling with the effective strength $Q_{\rm eff}$, but the largest fragment mass $M_{\rm lf}$ exhibits systematic differences – it is typically smaller for craterings and bigger for super-catastrophic events. This trend does not, however, explain the non-existence of old families. The respective parametric relations can be used in other statistical (Monte-Carlo) models to better understand collisions between asteroidal and cometary populations.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Rozehnal, M. Brož, D. Nesvorný, et. al.
Tue, 31 May 22
48/89

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