Asteroidal source of L chondrite meteorites     

David Nesvorný  David Vokrouhlický  Alessandro Morbidelli  William F. Bottke 《Icarus》2009,200(2):698-701

Establishing connections between meteorites and their parent asteroids is an important goal of planetary science. Several links have been proposed in the past, including a spectroscopic match between basaltic meteorites and (4) Vesta, that are helping scientists understand the formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies. Here we show that the shocked L chondrite meteorites, which represent about two thirds of all L chondrite falls, may be fragments of a disrupted asteroid with orbital semimajor axis a=2.8 AU. This breakup left behind thousands of identified 1–15 km asteroid fragments known as the Gefion family. Fossil L chondrite meteorites and iridium enrichment found in an ≈467 Ma old marine limestone quarry in southern Sweden, and perhaps also ∼5 large terrestrial craters with corresponding radiometric ages, may be tracing the immediate aftermath of the family-forming collision when numerous Gefion fragments evolved into the Earth-crossing orbits by the 5:2 resonance with Jupiter. This work has major implications for our understanding of the source regions of ordinary chondrite meteorites because it implies that they can sample more distant asteroid material than was previously thought possible.  相似文献   

Asteroids were born big     

Alessandro Morbidelli  William F. Bottke  Harold F. Levison 《Icarus》2009,204(2):558-573

How big were the first planetesimals? We attempt to answer this question by conducting coagulation simulations in which the planetesimals grow by mutual collisions and form larger bodies and planetary embryos. The size frequency distribution (SFD) of the initial planetesimals is considered a free parameter in these simulations, and we search for the one that produces at the end objects with a SFD that is consistent with Asteroid belt constraints. We find that, if the initial planetesimals were small (e.g. km-sized), the final SFD fails to fulfill these constraints. In particular, reproducing the bump observed at diameter in the current SFD of the asteroids requires that the minimal size of the initial planetesimals was also ∼100 km. This supports the idea that planetesimals formed big, namely that the size of solids in the proto-planetary disk “jumped” from sub-meter scale to multi-kilometer scale, without passing through intermediate values. Moreover, we find evidence that the initial planetesimals had to have sizes ranging from 100 to several 100 km, probably even 1000 km, and that their SFD had to have a slope over this interval that was similar to the one characterizing the current asteroids in the same size range. This result sets a new constraint on planetesimal formation models and opens new perspectives for the investigation of the collisional evolution in the Asteroid and Kuiper belts as well as of the accretion of the cores of the giant planets.  相似文献   

Soil water content vertical profiles under natural conditions: matching of experiments and simulations by a conceptual model   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1       下载免费PDF全文

R. Morbidelli  C. Saltalippi  A. Flammini  E. Rossi  C. Corradini 《水文研究》2014,28(17):4732-4742

The prediction of soil moisture content, θ, as a function of depth, z, and time, t, is of fundamental importance for applications in many hydrological processes. The main objective of this paper is to provide an approach to solve this problem at a local scale in soils with vegetation. The matching of soil moisture vertical profiles observed under natural conditions in grassy plots and their simulations by a conceptual model is presented. Experimental measurements were performed in a plot located in Central Italy, complete with hydrometeorological sensors specifically set up and equipped with a time domain reflectometry system providing the water content, θ_e(z, t). A conceptual model framework earlier proposed for two‐layered soil vertical profiles was modified and adopted for simulations. The changes concern the incorporation of evapotranspiration, the reduction of the original model for applications also to homogeneous soil vertical profiles, and a correction for the differences existing between assumed and observed initial moisture contents. In the model calibration, it was found that the effects of vegetation could be represented adequately by a fictitious soil vertical profile with a more permeable upper layer of saturated hydraulic conductivity, K_s, independent of time. Then, for the validation events, the model simulations in the stages of both infiltration and redistribution/evapotranspiration reproduced appropriately θ_e(z, t) with typical values of root mean square error in the range 0.0017–0.0657. Similar results were obtained by applying the modified two‐layered model for simulations of experimental data observed in three other plots located in Northern Italy and Germany. For all four vegetated sites, the two‐layer profile better matched the experimental data than the assumption of a homogeneous profile. Thus, the conceptual approach based on a two‐layered scheme for representing θ(z, t) in soils with vegetation appears to be appropriate for many hydrological applications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

On the applicability of temporal stability analysis to raingauge network design     

Renato Morbidelli  Carla Saltalippi  Alessia Flammini  Marco Cifrodelli  Jacopo Dari  Corrado Corradini 《水文科学杂志》2013,58(12):1424-1438

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Yarkovsky origin of the unstable asteroids in the 2/1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter     

M. Bro&#;  D. Vokrouhlický  F. Roig  D. Nesvorný  W. F. Bottke  A. Morbidelli 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2005,359(4):1437-1455

The 2/1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, intersecting the main asteroid belt at ≈3.27  au, contains a small population of objects. Numerical investigations have classified three groups within this population: asteroids residing on stable orbits (i.e. Zhongguos), those on marginally stable orbits with dynamical lifetimes of the order of 100 Myr (i.e. Griquas), and those on unstable orbits. In this paper, we reexamine the origin, evolution and survivability of objects in the 2/1 population. Using recent asteroid survey data, we have identified 100 new members since the last search, which increases the resonant population to 153. The most interesting new asteroids are those located in the theoretically predicted stable island A, which until now had been thought to be empty. We also investigate whether the population of objects residing on the unstable orbits could be resupplied by material from the edges of the 2/1 resonance by the thermal drag force known as the Yarkovsky effect (and by the YORP effect, which is related to the rotational dynamics). Using N -body simulations, we show that test particles pushed into the 2/1 resonance by the Yarkovsky effect visit the regions occupied by the unstable asteroids. We also find that our test bodies have dynamical lifetimes consistent with the integrated orbits of the unstable population. Using a semi-analytical Monte Carlo model, we compute the steady-state size distribution of magnitude   H < 14  asteroids on unstable orbits within the resonance. Our results provide a good match with the available observational data. Finally, we discuss whether some 2/1 objects may be temporarily captured Jupiter-family comets or near-Earth asteroids.  相似文献   

Mean-Motion Resonances as a Source for Infalling Comets toward β Pictoris     

Hervé Beust  Alessandro Morbidelli 《Icarus》1996,120(2):358-370

Repeated time-variable redshifted absorption features in the spectrum of β Pictoris (β Pic) have been attributed to comet-like bodies falling toward the star, when evaporating in its immediate vicinity. This model explains now a large number of observational characteristics, but the exact mechanism that could generate these numerous star-grazers is still controversial, even if planetary perturbations are thought to be the basic process. The different models proposed up to now are here reviewed, and we discuss in particular a recent one, involving the effect of secular resonances in the β Pic system. We stress that it seems highly improbable that such a mechanism could apply to the β Pic case, because the extremely strong power of secular resonances is connected to the very specific structure of the Solar System. Therefore, the secular resonance mechanism is highly non-generic. Conversely, we propose a model involving the eccentricity-pumping effect of mean-motion resonances with a massive planet on a moderately eccentric orbit. We show in particular that the 4:1 mean-motion resonance is a very active source of star-grazers as soon as the eccentricity of the perturbing planet is ?0.05, while the 3:1 mean-motion resonance is less efficient. We stress that this mechanism is very generic. These theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical integrations using the Extended Schubart Integrator. The time-scale of the process is discussed, and we show that if the eccentricity of the perturbing planet fluctuates, due to secular perturbations, this time-scale is compatible with the age of β Pic's system.  相似文献   

On the relationship between Lyapunov times and macroscopic instability times     

Alessandro Morbidelli  Claude Froeschlé 《Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy》1995,63(2):227-239

On the basis of the general theory of Hamiltonian systems, we consider the relationship between Lyapunov times and macroscopic diffusion times. We find out that there are two regimes: the Nekhoroshev regime and the resonant overlapping regime. In the first case the diffusion time is exponentially long with respect to Lyapunov times. In the second case, the relationship is polynomial although we do not find any theoretical reason for the existence of a universal power law. We show numerical evidences which confirm our theoretical considerations.  相似文献   

Did Saturn's rings form during the Late Heavy Bombardment?     

Sébastien Charnoz  Alessandro Morbidelli  Julien Salmon 《Icarus》2009,199(2):413-711

The origin of Saturn's massive ring system is still unknown. Two popular scenarios—the tidal splitting of passing comets and the collisional destruction of a satellite—rely on a high cometary flux in the past. In the present paper we attempt to quantify the cometary flux during the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) to assess the likelihood of both scenarios. Our analysis relies on the so-called “Nice model” of the origin of the LHB [Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.F., 2005. Nature 435, 459-461; Morbidelli, A., Levison, H.H., Tsiganis, K., Gomes, R., 2005. Nature 435, 462-465; Gomes, R., Levison, H.F., Tsiganis, K., Morbidelli, A., 2005. Nature 435, 466-469] and on the size distribution of the primordial trans-neptunian planetesimals constrained in [Charnoz, S., Morbidelli, A., 2007. Icarus 188, 468-480]. We find that the cometary flux on Saturn during the LHB was so high that both scenarios for the formation of Saturn rings are viable in principle. However, a more detailed study shows that the comet tidal disruption scenario implies that all four giant planets should have comparable ring systems whereas the destroyed satellite scenario would work only for Saturn, and perhaps Jupiter. This is because in Saturn's system, the synchronous orbit is interior to the Roche Limit, which is a necessary condition for maintaining a satellite in the Roche Zone up to the time of the LHB. We also discuss the apparent elimination of silicates from the ring parent body implied by the purity of the ice in Saturn's rings. The LHB has also strong implications for the survival of the saturnian satellites: all satellites smaller than Mimas would have been destroyed during the LHB, whereas Enceladus would have had from 40% to 70% chance of survival depending on the disruption model. In conclusion, these results suggest that the LHB is the “sweet moment” for the formation of a massive ring system around Saturn.  相似文献   

Cavity opening by a giant planet in a protoplanetary disc and effects on planetary migration     

A. Crida  A. Morbidelli 《Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society》2007,377(3):1324-1336

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An Overview on the Kuiper Belt and on the Origin of Jupiter-family Comets     

Alessandro Morbidelli 《Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy》1998,72(1-2):129-156

The present paper reviews our current understanding of the dynamical structure of the Kuiper belt and of the origin of Jupiter-family comets. It also discusses the evolutionary scenarios that have been proposed so far to explain the observed structure of the Kuiper belt population. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献