Monday, December 12, 2011

1107.5084 (Alberto S. Betzler et al.)

Nonextensive distributions of rotation periods and diameters of asteroids    [PDF]

Alberto S. Betzler, Ernesto P. Borges
Context. To investigate the distribution of rotation periods of asteroids from different regions of the Solar System and distribution of diameters of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Aims. Verify if nonextensive statistics satisfactorily describes the data. Methods. Light curve data was taken from Planetary Database System (PDS) with Rel $\ge 2$. Taxonomic class and region of the Solar System was also considered. Data of NEA were taken from Minor Planet Center. Results. The rotation periods of asteroids follow a $q$-Gaussian with $q=2.6$ regardless of taxonomy, diameter or region of the Solar System of the object. The distribution of rotation periods is influenced by observational bias. The diameters of NEAs are described by a $q$-exponential with $q=1.3$. According to this distribution, there are expected to be $994 \pm 30$ NEAs with diameters greater than 1 km.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.5084

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