Forming Binary Near-Earth Asteroids From Tidal Disruptions
Forming Binary Near-Earth Asteroids From Tidal Disruptions
Forming Binary Near-Earth Asteroids From Tidal Disruptions
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ContentsList of TablesList of Figuresviiiix1 Introduction 11.1 Scientific Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1.1 Why binary asteroids are interesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1.2 <strong>Binary</strong> near-<strong>Earth</strong> asteroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1.3 <strong>Binary</strong> Main-Belt asteroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.2 <strong>Binary</strong> Formation Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.2.1 Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.2.2 Collisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121.2.3 Rotational disruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.3 Shape and Spin Distributions for NEAs and MBAs . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.3.1 Existing lightcurve data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.3.2 Recent studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181.3.3 Motivation for work on small MBAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191.4 Steady-State Models of the NEA Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201.4.1 <strong>Near</strong>-<strong>Earth</strong> asteroid population dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211.5 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.5.1 <strong>Tidal</strong> disruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.5.2 Rubble piles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241.6 This Dissertation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Formation of <strong>Binary</strong> <strong>Asteroids</strong> via <strong>Tidal</strong> Disruption of Rubble Piles 262.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.2 Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.2.1 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.2.2 Progenitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.2.3 <strong>Tidal</strong> encounters and initial conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302.2.4 Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32v