Interstellar Asteroid Rotation with the Mechanical Torque Produced by Interstellar Medium

Abstract

The first interstellar object 'Oumuamua is discovered in 2017. When 'Oumuamua travels in interstellar space, it keeps colliding with interstellar medium (ISM). Given a sufficiently long interaction time, its rotation state may change significantly because of the angular momentum transfer with interstellar medium. Using generated Gaussian random spheres with the dimension ratios 6:1:1 and 5:5:1, this paper explores the ISM torque curve and proposes that ISM collision may account for 'Oumuamua's tumbling with the simple constant-torque analytical method. The statistic results show that the asymptotic obliquities distribute mostly at 0 and 180 degree and most cases spin down at the asymptotic obliquity, indicating the ISM collision effect is similar to the YORP effect with zero heat conductivity assumed. Given a long time of deceleration of the spin rate, an initial major-axis rotation may evolve into tumbling motion under ISM torque. Using a constant-torque analytical model, the timescales of evolving into tumbling for the sample of 200 shapes are found to range from several Gyrs to ens of Gyrs, highly dependent on the chosen shape. The mean value is about 8.5 Gyrs for prolate shapes and 7.3 Gyrs for oblate shapes. Rotation of asteroids in the Oort cloud might be also dominated by the ISM collision effect since the YORP effect is quite weak at such a long distance from the Sun. Although this paper assumes an ideal mirror reflection and a constant relative velocity of 'Oumuamua, the results still show the importance of the ISM collision effect.

arXiv comment11 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ. Comments are welcome! Email: [email protected]

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• Constraining the orientation of the spin axes of extrasolar minor bodies 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua) and 2I/Borisov
• Confined tumbling state as the origin of the excess of slowly rotating asteroids