SPH/N-Body simulations of small ([formula omitted]) asteroidal breakups and improved parametric relations for Monte–Carlo collisional models

Abstract

We report on our study of asteroidal breakups, i.e. fragmentations of targets, subsequent gravitational reaccumulation and formation of small asteroid families. We focused on parent bodies with diameters Dpb=10km. Simulations were performed with a smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code combined with an efficient N-body integrator. We assumed various projectile sizes, impact velocities and impact angles (125 runs in total). Resulting size-frequency distributions are significantly different from scaled-down simulations with Dpb=100km targets (Durda et al., 2007). We derive new parametric relations describing fragment distributions, suitable for Monte-Carlo collisional models. We also characterize velocity fields and angular distributions of fragments, which can be used as initial conditions for N-body simulations of small asteroid families. Finally, we discuss a number of uncertainties related to SPH simulations.