Secular evolution of resonant small bodies: semi-analytical approach for arbitrary eccentricities in the coplanar case

Abstract

ABSTRACT We study the secular evolution of a particle in deep mean motion resonance (MMR) with a planet in the planar elliptic restricted three body problem. We do not consider any restriction neither in the planet’s eccentricity ep nor in the particle’s eccentricity e. The methodology used is based on a semi-analytical model that consists on calculating the averaged resonant disturbing function numerically, assuming for this that in the resonant scale of time all the orbital elements of the particle are constant. In order to obtain the secular evolution inside the MMR, we make use of the adiabatic invariance principle, assuming a zero-amplitude resonant libration. We construct two-dimensional surfaces (called $\mathcal {H}$ surfaces) in the three-dimensional space (σ, e, ϖ) that allow us to predict the secular evolution of these three variables. The 2:1 MMR is used as example to show some results. We found four apsidal corotation resonance (ACR) families, two symmetric and two asymmetric. One of the symmetric families exists for almost any ep value. The other one for ep > 0.3 and the asymmetric ones for ep > 0.44. We corroborate the secular variations in e and ϖ predicted by the model through numerical integrations even when the initial conditions are displaced from those ACR. Some peculiar examples are presented for the 3:1 and 3:2 MMR showing large excursions in eccentricity. As an application, the Planet 9 is investigated as a possible responsible of high eccentric distant TNOs.