The role of catastrophic collisions in the evolution of the asteroids is discussed in detail, employing extrapolations of experimental results on the outcome of high-velocity impacts. The probability of impacts with a given projectile-to-target mass ratio for asteroids of different sizes is derived, taking into account different mass distributions of the asteroid population at the beginning of the collisional process. The extrapolations show that collisional breakup against solid-state cohesions must be a widespread process for asteroids. The influence of self-gravitation and transfer of angular momentum during collision is shown to depend strongly on the target size, resulting in a variety of possible outcomes in the intermediate size range. Comparison of the theoretical results with observations of asteroid rotations and sshapes yields favorable results.
The asteroids as outcomes of catastrophic collisions
PAOLICCHI, PAOLO;
1982-01-01
Abstract
The role of catastrophic collisions in the evolution of the asteroids is discussed in detail, employing extrapolations of experimental results on the outcome of high-velocity impacts. The probability of impacts with a given projectile-to-target mass ratio for asteroids of different sizes is derived, taking into account different mass distributions of the asteroid population at the beginning of the collisional process. The extrapolations show that collisional breakup against solid-state cohesions must be a widespread process for asteroids. The influence of self-gravitation and transfer of angular momentum during collision is shown to depend strongly on the target size, resulting in a variety of possible outcomes in the intermediate size range. Comparison of the theoretical results with observations of asteroid rotations and sshapes yields favorable results.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
