A review of the effects of light scattering on the dynamics of irregularly shaped dust grains in the Solar System

Abstract

The various aspects of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with cosmic dust particles are discussed. In particular, attention is paid to discrepancies between optical and physical behavior of realistically shaped particles and volume equivalent homogeneous spheres. The dynamical evolution of morphologically non-identical particles which are driven by gravity, electromagnetic radiation and the Lorentz forces can dramatically differ. Although spherical particles often enable analytical calculations, an orbital evolution of spheres cannot be considered as a representative evolution for real cosmic dust particles. The effect of electromagnetic radiation on the motion of dust grains plays a crucial role here. While irregularly shaped interstellar dust particles may be captured in the Solar System, the spherical particles will not survive due to close encounters with the Sun. Spherical grains can be captured almost only in the evaporation region (in the vicinity of the Sun), where they are destroyed due to high temperatures. The spherical dust particles ejected from comets will monotonously inspiral toward the Sun subject to the Poynting–Robertson effect. However, the non-spherical particles of the same origin may be temporarily stabilized at some heliocentric distances and thus their lifetime may be much longer than that for the Mie spheres. Some dust particles may also be captured in mean-motion resonances with planets (commensurability resonances). While spherical particles are always characterized by the secular decrease of the semi-major axes near mean-motion resonances, this may not be true for non-spherical particles. Resonant captures of arbitrarily shaped dust grains exist for exterior and interior mean-motion resonances with planets.