Planetesimal clearing and size-dependent asteroid retention by secular resonance sweeping during the depletion of the solar nebula

Abstract

The distribution of heavy elements is anomalously low in the asteroid main belt region compared with elsewhere in the solar system. Observational surveys also indicate a deficit in the number of small ($ \le 50$~km size) asteroids that is two orders of magnitude lower than what is expected from the single power-law distribution that results from a collisional coagulation and fragmentation equilibrium. Here, we consider the possibility that a major fraction of the original asteroid population may have been cleared out by Jupiter's secular resonance, as it swept through the main asteroid belt during the depletion of the solar nebula. This effect leads to the excitation of the asteroids' orbital eccentricities. Concurrently, hydrodynamic drag and planet-disk tidal interaction effectively damp the eccentricities of sub-100 km-size and of super-lunar-size planetesimals, respectively. These combined effects lead to the asteroids' orbital decay and clearing from the present-day main belt region ($\sim 2.1-3.3$~AU). The intermediate-size (50 to several hundreds of kilometers) planetesimals therefore preferentially remain as main belt asteroids near their birthplaces, with modest asymptotic eccentricities. The smaller asteroids are the fragments of subsequent disruptive collisions at later times as suggested by the present-day asteroid families. This scenario provides a natural explanation for both the observed low surface density and the size distribution of asteroids in the main belt. It also offers an explanation for the confined spatial extent of the terrestrial planet building blocks without the requirement of extensive migration of Jupiter.