A 3-dimensional model of tangential YORP

Abstract

Tangential YORP, or TYORP, has recently been demonstrated to be an important factor in the evolution of an asteroid's rotation state. It is complementary to normal YORP, or NYORP, which used to be considered previously. While NYORP is produced by non-symmetry in the large-scale geometry of an asteroid, TYORP is due to heat conductivity in stones on the surface of the asteroid. Yet to date TYORP has been studied only in a simplified 1-dimensional model, substituting stones by high long walls. This article for the first time considers TYORP in a realistic 3-dimensional model, also including shadowing and self-illumination effects via ray tracing. TYORP is simulated for spherical stones lying on regolith. The model includes only 5 free parameters, and the dependence of the TYORP on each of them is studied. The TYORP torque appears to be smaller than previous estimates from 1-dimensional model, but still comparable to the NYORP torques. These results can be used to estimate TYORP of different asteroids, and also as a basis for more sophisticated models of TYORP.

Accepted to ApJ

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Landslides and Mass Shedding on Spinning Spheroidal Asteroids
• Coupled Spin and Shape Evolution of Small Rubble-Pile Asteroids: Self-Limitation of the YORP Effect
• YORP and Yarkovsky effects in asteroids (1685) Toro, (2100) Ra-Shalom, (3103) Eger, and (161989) Cacus
• Post-main-sequence debris from rotation-induced YORP break-up of small bodies II: multiple fissions, internal strengths and binary production
• The thermal emission from boulders on (25143) Itokawa and general implications for the YORP effect
• Systematic structure and sinks in the YORP effect
• Mercury and OrbFit packages for the numerical integration of planetary systems: implementation of the Yarkovsky and YORP effects
• Constraining the Thermal Properties of Planetary Surfaces using Machine Learning: Application to Airless Bodies
• Detection of the YORP Effect on the contact-binary (68346) 2001 KZ66 from combined radar and optical observations
• Obliquities of "Top-Shaped" Asteroids May Not Imply Reshaping by YORP Spin-up
• Analytic model for tangential YORP
• Evolution of an asteroid family under YORP, Yarkovsky and collisions
• Spin Change of Asteroid 2012 TC4 probably by Radiation Torques
• Equilibrium rotation states of doubly synchronous binary asteroids
• Asteroid pairs: method validation and new candidates