Detection of the Yarkovsky effect for C-type asteroids in the Veritas family

Abstract

The age of a young asteroid family can be determined by tracking the orbits of family members backward in time and showing that they converge at some time in the past. Here we consider the Veritas family. We find that the membership of the Veritas family increased enormously since the last detailed analysis of the family. Using backward integration, we confirm the convergence of nodal longitudes $\Omega$, and, for the first time, also obtain a simultaneous convergence of pericenter longitudes $\varpi$. The Veritas family is found to be $8.23_{-0.31}^{+0.37}$~Myr old. To obtain a tight convergence of $\Omega$ and $\varpi$, as expected from low ejection speeds of fragments, the Yarkovsky effect needs to be included in the modeling of the past orbital histories of Veritas family members. Using this method, we compute the Yarkovsky semi-major axis drift rates, $\mathrm{d}a/\mathrm{d}t$, for 274 member asteroids. The distribution of $\mathrm{d}a/\mathrm{d}t$ values is consistent with a population of C-type objects with low densities and low thermal conductivities. The accuracy of individual $\mathrm{d}a/\mathrm{d}t$ measurements is limited by the effect of close encounters of member asteroids to (1) Ceres and other massive asteroids, which cannot be evaluated with confidence.

arXiv comment20 pages, 19 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (7)

• Solar System Objects Observed in the SDSS Commissioning Data
• The taxonomic distribution of asteroids from multi-filter all-sky photometric surveys
• Constraining the cometary flux through the asteroid belt during the late heavy bombardment
• Revising the age for the Baptistina asteroid family using WISE/NEOWISE data
• Constraints on the original ejection velocity fields of asteroid families
• Dynamical evolution and chronology of the Hygiea asteroid family
• Detection of the YORP Effect for Small Asteroids in the Karin Cluster

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Asteroid Families: properties, recent advances and future opportunities
• Source regions of carbonaceous meteorites and NEOs
• Reconstruction of asteroid spin states from Gaia DR3 photometry
• SsODNet: The Solar system Open Database Network
• An automatic approach to exclude interlopers from asteroid families
• Size-dependent modification of asteroid family Yarkovsky V-shapes
• Initial velocity V-shapes of young asteroid families
• On the age of the Nele asteroid family
• The Yarkovsky effect in REBOUNDx
• Recent arrivals to the main asteroid belt