Asymmetry in the number of L4 and L5 Jupiter Trojans driven by jumping Jupiter

Abstract

Context. More than 10000 Jupiter Trojans have been detected so far. They are moving around the L4 and L5 triangular Lagrangian points of the Sun-Jupiter system and their distributions can provide important clues to the early evolution of the Solar System. Aims. The number asymmetry of the L4 and L5 Jupiter Trojans is a longstanding problem. We aim to test a new mechanism in order to explain this anomalous feature by invoking the jumping-Jupiter scenario. Methods. First, we introduce the orbital evolution of Jupiter caused by the giant planet instability in the early Solar System. In this scenario, Jupiter could undergo an outward migration at a very high speed. We then investigate how such a jump changes the numbers of the L4 (N4) and L5 (N5) Trojans. Results. The outward migration of Jupiter can distort the co-orbital orbits near the Lagrangian points, resulting in L4 Trojans being more stable than the L5 ones. We find that, this mechanism could potentially explain the unbiased number asymmetry of N4/N5~1.6 for the known Jupiter Trojans. The uncertainties of the system parameters, e.g. Jupiter's eccentricity and inclination, the inclination distribution of Jupiter Trojans, are also taken into account and our results about the L4/L5 asymmetry have been further validated. However, the resonant amplitudes of the simulated Trojans are excited to higher values compared to the current population. A possible solution is that collisions among the Trojans may reduce their resonant amplitudes.

11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (15)

• Constraints on resonant-trapping for two planets embedded in a protoplanetary disc
• Visible spectroscopic and photometric survey of Jupiter Trojans: final results on dynamical families
• The Properties of Jovian Trojan Asteroids Listed in SDSS Moving Object Catalog 3
• Constraining the giant planets' initial configuration from their evolution: implications for the timing of the planetary instability
• A hypothesis for the color bimodality of Jupiter Trojans
• Taxonomy of asteroid families among the Jupiter Trojans: Comparison between spectroscopic data and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey colors
• The consequences of planetary migration on the minor bodies of the early Solar System
• The Intrinsic Neptune Trojan Orbit Distribution: Implications for the Primordial Disk and Planet Migration
• Small Jupiter Trojans Survey with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam
• The effect of planetary migration on the corotation resonance
• Implications of Jupiter Inward Gas-Driven Migration for the Inner Solar System
• On the inclinations of the Jupiter Trojans
• Size Distribution of Small Jupiter Trojans in the L5 Swarm
• Calibration of the angular momenta of the minor planets in the solar system
• Apsidal asymmetric-alignment of Jupiter Trojans

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Evolution and final fate of massive post-common-envelope binaries
• Expected insights on type Ia supernovae from LISA's gravitational wave observations
• Compact Objects in close orbits as Gravitational Wave Sources: Formation Scenarios and Properties
• Main-belt and Trojan Asteroid Phase Curves from the ATLAS Survey
• The Formation of Electron-capture Supernovae: A Review
• The invasion of a free floating planet and the number asymmetry of Jupiter Trojans
• The first phase of mass transfer in low-mass binaries: neither stable nor a common envelope
• The role of triple evolution in the formation of LISA double white dwarfs
• Comparing population synthesis models of compact double white dwarfs to electromagnetic observations
• The evolutionary history of ultra-compact accreting binaries. I. Chemical abundances and formation channel of the eclipsing AM CVn system ZTF J225237.05-051917.4 from HST spectroscopy
• EPIC 206197016: A very hot white dwarf orbited by a strongly irradiated red dwarf
• A new multiple-arc model of the resonant Kuiper belt objects -- Plutinos
• Searching for Exotrojans in Pulsar Systems
• The steady-state population of Earth's co-orbitals of lunar provenance