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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15818 |
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| _version_ | 1866912719576236032 |
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| author | Murray, Zachary |
| author_facet | Murray, Zachary |
| contents | A significant amount of work has been devoted to the study of small binary solar system objects. The majority of these binaries, especially among the near-earth or main belt asteroids have small radius ratios, implying a large difference in size between the primary and its companion. Farther from the sun, the binary fraction increases, with the Kuiper Belt having many known binaries with radius ratios of order unity. In this paper, we consider the runaway growth of a binary system in an accretionary stream of small particles. We perform brute-force integrations, each with 10 million test particles and numerically compute the gravitational cross sections for each member of the binary as a function of the system's separation and mass ratio. We show that the behavior of the cross section is complex, and it can be either diminished or enhanced depending on the orbital configuration. In the regime where gravitational focusing dominates the accretion process, we show that binaries grow towards smaller mass ratios than would be expected given single-body cross sections. Finally, we provide a grid of these cross sections for use in the future study of such systems. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_15818 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Numerical Determination of the Gravitational Cross Sections of an Accreting Binary Murray, Zachary Earth and Planetary Astrophysics A significant amount of work has been devoted to the study of small binary solar system objects. The majority of these binaries, especially among the near-earth or main belt asteroids have small radius ratios, implying a large difference in size between the primary and its companion. Farther from the sun, the binary fraction increases, with the Kuiper Belt having many known binaries with radius ratios of order unity. In this paper, we consider the runaway growth of a binary system in an accretionary stream of small particles. We perform brute-force integrations, each with 10 million test particles and numerically compute the gravitational cross sections for each member of the binary as a function of the system's separation and mass ratio. We show that the behavior of the cross section is complex, and it can be either diminished or enhanced depending on the orbital configuration. In the regime where gravitational focusing dominates the accretion process, we show that binaries grow towards smaller mass ratios than would be expected given single-body cross sections. Finally, we provide a grid of these cross sections for use in the future study of such systems. |
| title | Numerical Determination of the Gravitational Cross Sections of an Accreting Binary |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15818 |