Physics Colloquium: The Formation and Disassociation of Asteroid Pairs

Pairs of asteroids with similar heliocentric orbits, but not gravitationally bound together, can be found throughout the main asteroid belt. These asteroids are formed through the rotational fission of asteroids that have had their spin rate accelerated through a process known as the Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievski-Paddack (YORP) effect. The YORP effect is the change in rotation rate of irregularly shaped asteroids due radiation forces. After an asteroid pair forms, the two members drift apart and eventually become disassociated through chaos, resonances, and the non-gravitational forces. In one chapter of my dissertation research, I modeled the formation and disassociation of these asteroid pairs through Monte Carlo and N-body gravitational models to estimate the rate at which asteroid pairs are formed. The results from this model place important constraints on the efficiency that radiation effects (YORP) can spin an asteroid up to the point of fission. Particularly, we show that the rate of fissioning via the YORP effect is not substantially limited by any stagnation or stochastic evolution.