Marco Fenucci

Physical properties of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs)

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Figure 1. Probability density function of the super-fast rotator (499998) 2011 PT.

In [5] I developed a statistical method to study the thermal properties of the super-fast rotator (499998) 2011PT, which is based on the comparison between the measured and the model-predicted Yarkovsky effect. Results showed a surprisingly low thermal inertia (see Figure 1), lower than that of Bennu and Ryugu, with a very high probability.

The D-NEAs project, which is based on the preliminary work on 2011 PT, aims to further develop new methods for the physical characterization of near-Earth asteroids, that rely mostly on ground-based observations. Resluts and software produced during the project will be made publicly available to the scientific community.

The D-NEAs project is carried on by myself, Bojan Novaković, and Dušan Marčeta from the Astronomy Department of the University of Belgrade. The project has been recently awarded with the Planetary Society STEP grant 2021.


Population of small NEAs

My current research work is focused on the study of small near-Earth asteroids, covering interdisciplinary areas in between planetary science, astronomy and mathematics.

The major goal of my work is to provide a better understanding of global properties of the near-Earth asteroid population, such as their dynamical properties, their physical characteristics, and their distribution in space. I am also working on the identification of suitable targets for future space missions.

At diameter smaller than about 40 km, the dynamics of an asteroid and its physical properties are not independent, because they are connected thorugh the Yarkovsky effect. This effect is caused by sunlight, and it depends on the spin state of the asteroid, and its dynamical and physical characteristics. The Yarkovsky effect could be strongh enough to statistically change the dynamics of the population of asteroids smaller than 100 meters in diameter.

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Figure 2. A photo of asteroid Itokawa taken during the JAXA Hayabusa mission. Credits: ISAS, JAXA

For this research, I developed a statistical method of thermal inertia estimation based on the comparison between the measured and the modeled Yarkovsky effect, and I contributed to the first thermal characterization of a superfast rotator – asteroid (499998) 2011 PT. I developed a modified version of the OrbFit and mercury N-body codes, including the combined action of the Yarkovsky and YORP effects, that can be used for statistical studies on the dynamics of small asteroids. With this software I analyzed how the long-term dynamics of (469219) Kamo'oalewa – the target of a future Chinese mission – depends on the Yarkovsky effect.


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Figure 3. A periodic orbit of the N-body problem for N = 60, with the symmetry of the Icosahedron.

Periodic orbits of the N-body problem

During my Ph.D period I studied the existence of periodic orbits of the N-body problem with equal masses, using variational and numerical methods. Variational methods permit to prove the existence of periodic orbits with special symmetries, while numerical methods permit to actually compute such orbits and study additional properties, such as their stability.

In [1] I applied rigorous numerical techniques to produce a computer-assisted proof of the instability of particular periodic solutions of the N-body problem with equal masses, and some computations can be found here.

In [2] I used numerical methods to compute symmetric periodic orbits in the Coulomb (1+N)-body problem, that is strictly related to the gravitational N-body problem. The computations performed for this paper can be found here.

In [4] I used variational techniques to prove the existence of periodic orbits of the (1+N)-body problem, and used the Gamma-convergence theory to study their asymptotic properties. Additional computations of this work can be found here.

In [8] I used numerical method to compute the bifurcations of the collinear configuration of the 3-body problem viewed as a balanced configuration. Additional material of this paper can be found here.


Ph.D Thesis

For my Ph.D thesis I worked on two different topics. The first concerns variational methods applied to the N-body problem, from both a teorethical and a numerical point of view. The second topic is about Hamiltonian perturbation theory applied to the restricted N-body problem with orbit crossing singularities.

You can download my Ph.D thesis by clicking on the following link

Variational methods and Hamiltonian perturbation theory applied to the N-body problem
A theoretical and computational approach

Publications

  1. M. F., A. Carbognani: 2024. Long-term orbital evolution of Dimorphos boulders and implications on the origin of meteorites, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 528, Issue 4, Pages 6660–6665 (arXiv). See also related news on Media INAF. Abstract ▿▵

  2. M. F., M. Micheli, F. Gianotto, L. Faggioli, D. Oliviero, A. Porru, R. Rudawska, J. L. Cano, L. Conversi, R. Moissl: 2024. An automated procedure for the detection of the Yarkovsky effect and results from the ESA NEO Coordination Centre, Astronomy and Astrophysics 682, A29 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  3. B. Novaković, M. F., D. Marčeta, D. Pavela: 2024. ASTERIA - Asteroid Thermal Inertia Analyzer, Planetary Science Journal, Vol. 5, Num. 11. (arXiv). The software developed for this paper can be downloaded from my GitHub page: ASTERIA. Abstract ▿▵

  4. A. Carbognani, M. F.: 2023. Identifying parent bodies of meteorites among near-Earth asteroids, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 525, Issue 2, 1705–1725 (arXiv). See also related news on Media INAF and Universe Today. Abstract ▿▵

  5. M. F., B. Novaković, D. Marčeta: 2023. The low surface thermal inertia of the rapidly rotating near-Earth asteroid 2016 GE1, Astronomy and Astrophysics 675, A134 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  6. M. F., G. F. Gronchi, B. Novaković: 2023. Maps of secular resonances in the NEO region, Astronomy and Astrophysics 672, A39 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  7. Z. Zhong, J. Yan, S. Chen, L. Liu, M. F., Q. Wen: 2022. The Likely Thermal Evolution of the Irregularly Shaped S-Type Astraea Asteroid, Remote Sensing 14, 6320. Abstract ▿▵

  8. M. F., G. F. Gronchi, M. Saillenfest: 2022. Proper elements for resonant planet-crossing asteroids, Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy 134 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  9. M. F., B. Novaković: 2022. Mercury and OrbFit packages for the numerical integration of planetary systems: implementation of the Yarkovsky and YORP effects, Serbian Astronomical Journal 204, pp 51-63 (arXiv). The software developed for this paper can be downloaded from my GitHub page: OrbFit, mercury. Abstract ▿▵

  10. L. Asselle, M. F., A. Portaluri: 2022. Bifurcations of balanced configurations for the Newtonian n-body problem in R4, Journal of Fixed Point Theory and Applications 24, 22 (Symplectic geometry - A Festschrift in honour of Claude Viterbo’s 60th birthday) (arXiv). Additional material for this paper can be found here. Abstract ▿▵

  11. M. F.: 2022. Local minimality properties of circular motions in 1/rα potentials and of the figure-eight solution of the 3-body problem, Partial Differential Equations and Applications, Volume 3, 10 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  12. M. F., B. Novaković: 2021. The role of the Yarkovsky effect in the long-term dynamics of asteroid (469219) Kamo'oalewa, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 162, Number 6 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  13. M. F., B. Novaković, D. Vokrouhlický, R. J. Weryk: 2021. Low thermal conductivity of the super-fast rotator (499998) 2011 PT, Astronomy and Astrophysics 647, A61 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  14. M. F., G. F. Gronchi: 2021. Symmetric constellations of satellites moving around a central body of large mass, Journal of Dynamics and Differential Equations 35, pp. 1511–1559 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  15. G. Lari, M. Saillenfest, M. F.: 2020. Long-term evolution of the Galileian satellites: the capture of Callisto into resonance , Astronomy and Astrophysics 639, A40 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  16. M. F., A. Jorba: 2019. Braids with the symmetries of Platonic polyhedra in the Coulomb (N+1)-body problem , Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 83, 105105 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵

  17. M. F., G. F. Gronchi: 2018. On the stability of periodic N-body motions with the symmetry of Platonic polyhedra, Nonlinearity, Vol. 31, Num. 11, pp 4935-4954 (arXiv). Abstract ▿▵


Visits and Seminars