Bibcode
Alvarez-Candal, A.; Licandro, J.
Referencia bibliográfica
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 458, Issue 3, November II 2006, pp.1007-1011
Advertised on:
11
2006
Revista
Número de citas
11
Número de citas referidas
11
Descripción
Aims.In this work we study the cumulative size distribution of the
population of asteroids in cometary orbits (ACOs), aiming to
discriminate its cometary or asteroidal origin. Methods: .The
cumulative luminosity function was determined based on the absolute
magnitudes of the ACOs. The cumulative size distribution was then
derived and compared to that of possible sources of ACOs, such as the
Trojans and Hilda asteroids and Jupiter family comets. The size
distribution of the two sub-populations, NEOs and non-NEOs, identified
by Licandro et al. (2005) were also analyzed. Results: .The
derived cumulative size distribution index of the ACO population is
2.55±0.04. The two subpopulations have distinct indexes:
-2.20±0.04 and -2.45±0.04 for the NEOs and non-NEOs,
respectively. The first value is similar to that of the Trojans and
Hilda asteroids and the second to the Jupiter family comets. The
obtained values suggest that the non-NEO sub-population of ACOs can be
composed of a significant fraction of dormant Jupiter family comets. On
the other hand, the NEO sub-population is mostly formed by scattered
objects from diverse sources, including main belt asteroids.