Reconstructing the orbital history of the Veritas family

Abstract

The family of (490) Veritas is a young, dynamically heterogeneous asteroid family, located in the outer main belt. As such, it represents a valuable example for studying the effects of chaotic diffusion on the shape of asteroid families. The Veritas family can be decomposed into several groups, in terms of the principal mechanisms that govern the local dynamics, which are analyzed here. A relatively large spread in proper eccentricity is observed, for the members of two chaotic groups. We show that different types of chaos govern the motion of bodies within each group, depending on the extent of overlap among the components of the corresponding resonant multiplets. In particular, one group appears to be strongly diffusive, while the other is not. Studying the evolution of the diffusive group and applying statistical methods, we estimate the age of the family to be τ=(8.7±1.7) Myr. This value is statistically compatible with that of 8.3 Myr previously derived by Nesvorný et al. [Nesvorný, D., Bottke, W.F., Levison, H.F., Dones, L., 2003. Astrophys. J. 591, 486–497], who analyzed the secular evolution of family members on regular orbits. Our methodology, applied here in the case of the Veritas family, can be used to reconstruct the orbital history of other, dynamically complex, asteroid families and derive approximate age estimates for young asteroid families, located in diffusive regions of the main belt. Possible refinements of the method are also discussed.