Massive identification of asteroids in three-body resonances

An essential role in the asteroidal dynamics is played by the mean motion resonances. Two-body planet–asteroid resonances are widely known, due to the Kirkwood gaps. Besides, so-called three-body mean motion resonances exist, in which an asteroid and two planets participate. Identification of asteroids in three-body (namely, Jupiter–Saturn–asteroid) resonances was initially accomplished by Nesvorný and Morbidelli (Nesvorný D., Morbidelli, A. [1998]. Astron. J. 116, 3029–3037), who, by means of visual analysis of the time behaviour of resonant arguments, found 255 asteroids to reside in such resonances. We develop specialized algorithms and software for massive automatic identification of asteroids in the three-body, as well as two-body, resonances of arbitrary order, by means of automatic analysis of the time behaviour of resonant arguments. In the computation of orbits, all essential perturbations are taken into account. We integrate the asteroidal orbits on the time interval of 100,000 yr and identify main-belt asteroids in the three-body Jupiter–Saturn–asteroid resonances up to the 6th order inclusive, and in the two-body Jupiter–asteroid resonances up to the 9th order inclusive, in the set of ∼250,000 objects from the “Asteroids – Dynamic Site” (AstDyS) database. The percentages of resonant objects, including extrapolations for higher-order resonances, are determined. In particular, the observed fraction of pure-resonant asteroids (those exhibiting resonant libration on the whole interval of integration) in the three-body resonances up to the 6th order inclusive is ≈0.9% of the whole set; and, using a higher-order extrapolation, the actual total fraction of pure-resonant asteroids in the three-body resonances of all orders is estimated as ≈1.1% of the whole set.

► Algorithms and software for identification of resonant asteroids are developed.
► The set of about 250,000 asteroids from the AstDyS database is considered.
► Asteroids in three-body Jupiter–Saturn–asteroid resonances are identified.
► Objects in two-body resonances with Jupiter are also identified.
► The percentages of objects in pure and transient resonances are determined.