Re-examination of the transportation abilities of the 5:2 MMR with Jupiter

Abstract

Resonances in the main asteroid belt play a significant role in the dynamical evolution of small bodies. They are capable of driving objects into the near-Earth object (NEO) region as well. This work re-examines the transportation abilities of the 5:2 mean motion resonance (MMR) with Jupiter. We focus on a greater portion of the resonance than the previous study that used a similar method. We are also interested in an elimination course along $q 0.26\,$au that was discovered previously. Moreover, we search for the orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids and for orbits that correspond to recent L chondrite meteorites. Firstly, short-term fast Lyapunov indicator maps of the 5:2 MMR were computed in order to distinguish between stable and unstable orbits. Then over $10\,000$ unstable particles were selected and integrated for a longer period of time, up to $10\,$Myr, to reveal the transportation abilities of the resonance. During our simulation, $99.45<!PCT!>$ of test particles became NEOs, $9.43<!PCT!>$ reached the orbit with a semi-major axis, $a<1\,$au, and over $27<!PCT!>$ of particles migrated to low perihelion distances, $q<0.005\,$au. In addition, $92.8<!PCT!>$ of the particles entered the Hill sphere of the Earth and over $97<!PCT!>$ reached an orbit at which we would classify them as potentially hazardous if they were sufficiently large. However, our simulation did not confirm ejections along $q 0.26\,$au. Our results suggest that there is some kind of discrepancy between using the MERCURIUS integrator (REBOUND package) and the ORBIT9 integrator (OrbFit package). This subject is worth additional examination.