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T.J.J Kehoe, S.F. Dermott (University of Florida), K. Grogan (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
We have numerically investigated the dynamical behaviour of asteroidal dust particles originating in the main belt as they spiral in towards the Sun under the effects of Poynting-Robertson and solar wind drag. In contrast to the behaviour of small dust particles, we found that large dust particles, greater than about 100 microns in diameter, were markedly affected by passage through secular resonances at the inner edge of the main asteroid belt. In particular, the forced element distributions of large dust particles interior to 2 AU were widely dispersed and were no longer locked onto Jupiter's orbital elements as they had been in the main asteroid belt. This result has important implications for the structure of the solar system dust bands and the ability to distinguish between asteroidal and cometary dust particles on dynamical grounds alone.
This research was supported by NASA ADP Grant NAG5-9280 and NASA PGG Grant NAG5-4531.