arXiv subjects

Kosuke Kurosawa

Publications and source records attributed to Kosuke Kurosawa.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Chondrule Destruction via Dust Collisions in Shock Waves

A leading candidate for the heating source of chondrules and igneous rims is shock waves. This mechanism generates high relative velocities between chondrules and dust particles. We have investigated the possibility of the chondrule destruction in collisions with dust particles behind a shock wave using a semianalytical treatment. We find that the chondrules are destroyed during melting in collisions. We derive the conditions for the destruction of chondrules and show that the typical size of the observed chondrules satisfies the condition. We suggest that the chondrule formation and rim accretion are different events if they are heated by shock waves.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Experimentally shock-induced melt veins in basalt: Improving the shock classification of eucrites

Basaltic rocks occur widely on the terrestrial planets and differentiated asteroids, including the asteroid 4 Vesta. We conducted a shock recovery experiment with decaying compressive pulses on a terrestrial basalt at Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan. The sample recorded a range of pressures, and shock physics modeling was conducted to add a pressure scale to the observed shock features. The shocked sample was examined by optical and electron microscopy, electron back-scattered diffractometry, and Raman spectroscopy. We found that localized melting occurs at a lower pressure (~10 GPa) than previously thought (>20 GPa). The shocked basalt near the epicenter represents shock degree C of a recently proposed classification scheme for basaltic eucrites and, as such, our results provide a pressure scale for the classification scheme. Finally, we estimated the total fraction of the basaltic eucrites classified as shock degree C to be ~15% by assuming the impact velocity distribution onto Vesta.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Rheology of dilute granular gas mixtures where the grains interact via a square shoulder and well potential

We develop the rheology of a dilute granular gas mixture. Motivated by the interaction of charged granular particles, we assume that the grains interact via a square shoulder and well potential. Employing kinetic theory, we compute the temperature and the shear viscosity as functions of the shear rate. Numerical simulations confirm our results above the critical shear rate. At a shear rate below a critical value, clustering of the particles occurs.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Effect of impact velocity and angle on deformational heating and post-impact temperature

The record of impact induced shock-heating in meteorites is an important key for understanding the collisional history of the solar system. Material strength is important for impact heating, but the effect of impact angle and impact velocity on shear heating remains poorly understood. Here, we report three-dimensional oblique impact simulations, which confirm the enhanced heating due to material strength and explore the effects of impact angle and impact velocity. We find that oblique impacts with an impact angle that is steeper than 45 degree produce a similar amount of heated mass as vertical impacts. On the other hand, grazing impacts produce less heated mass and smaller heated regions compared to impacts at steeper angles. We derive an empirical formula of the heated mass, as a function of the impact angle and velocity. This formula can be used to estimate the impact conditions (velocity and angle) that had occurred and caused Ar loss in the meteoritic parent bodies. Furthermore, our results indicate that grazing impacts at higher impact velocities could generate a similar amount of heated material as vertical impacts at lower velocities. As the heated material produced by grazing impacts has experienced lower pressure than the material heated by vertical impacts, our results imply that grazing impacts may produce weakly shock-heated meteorites.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Shock recovery with decaying compressive pulses: Shock effects in calcite (CaCO$_3$) around the Hugoniot elastic limit

Shock metamorphism of minerals in meteorites provides insights into the ancient Solar System. Calcite is an abundant aqueous alteration mineral in carbonaceous chondrites. Return samples from the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu are expected to contain calcite-group minerals. Although shock metamorphism in silicates has been well studied, such data for aqueous alteration minerals are limited. Here, we investigated the shock effects in calcite with marble using impact experiments at the Planetary Exploration Research Center of Chiba Institute of Technology. We produced decaying compressive pulses with a smaller projectile than the target. A metal container facilitates recovery of a sample that retains its pre-impact stratigraphy. We estimated the peak pressure distributions in the samples with the iSALE shock physics code. The capability of this method to produce shocked grains that have experienced different degrees of metamorphism from a single experiment is an advantage over conventional uniaxial shock recovery experiments. The shocked samples were investigated by polarizing microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. We found that more than half of calcite grains exhibit undulatory extinction when peak pressure exceeds 3 GPa. This shock pressure is one order of magnitude higher than the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) of marble, but it is close to the HEL of a calcite crystal, suggesting that the undulatory extinction records dislocation-induced plastic deformation in the crystal. Finally, we propose a strategy to re-construct the maximum depth of calcite grains in a meteorite parent body, if shocked calcite grains are identified in chondrites and/or return samples from Ryugu and Bennu.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Ryugu's observed volatile loss did not arise from impact heating alone

Carbonaceous asteroids, including Ryugu and Bennu, which have been explored by the Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx missions, were probably important carriers of volatiles to the inner Solar System. However, Ryugu has experienced significant volatile loss, possibly from hypervelocity impact heating. Here we present impact experiments at speeds comparable to those expected in the main asteroid belt (3.7 km s-1 and 5.8 km s-1) and with analogue target materials. We find that loss of volatiles from the target material due to impacts is not sufficient to account for the observed volatile depletion of Ryugu. We propose that mutual collisions in the main asteroid belt are unlikely to be solely responsible for the loss of volatiles from Ryugu or its parent body. Instead, we suggest that additional processes, for example associated with the diversity in mechanisms and timing of their formation, are necessary to account for the variable volatile contents of carbonaceous asteroids.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2022

Experimental Simulations of Shock Textures in BCC Iron: Implications for Iron Meteorites

Neumann band in iron meteorites, which is deformation twins in kamacite (Fe-Ni alloy), has been known to be a characteristic texture indicating ancient collisions on parent bodies of meteorites. We conducted a series of shock recovery experiments on bcc iron with the projectile velocity at 1.5 km/sec at various initial temperatures, room temperature, 670 K, and 1100 K, and conducted an annealing experiment on the shocked iron. We also conducted numerical simulations with the iSALE-2D code to investigate peak pressure and temperature distributions in the nontransparent targets. The effects of pressure and temperature on the formation and disappearance of the twins (Neumann band) were explored based on laboratory and numerical experiments. The twin was formed in the run products of the experiments conducted at room temperature and 670 K, whereas it was not observed in the run product formed by the impact at 1100 K. The present experiments combined with the numerical simulations revealed that the twin was formed by impacts with various shock pressures from 1.5-2 GPa to around 13 GPa. The twin in iron almost disappeared by annealing at 1070 K. The iron meteorites with Neumann bands were shocked at this pressure range and temperatures at least up to 670 K, and were not heated to the temperatures above 1070 K after the Neumann band formation.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2021

Modeling Early Clustering of Impact-induced Ejecta Particles Based on Laboratory and Numerical Experiments

A projectile impact onto a granular target produces an ejecta curtain with the heterogeneous material distribution. Understanding how the heterogeneous pattern forms is potentially important for understanding how crater rays form. Previous studies predicted that the pattern formation is induced by inelastic collisions of ejecta particles in the early stages of crater formation and is terminated by the ejecta's expanding motion. In this study, we test this prediction based on a hyper-velocity impact experiment together with N-body simulations where the trajectories of inelastically colliding granular particles are calculated. Our laboratory experiment suggests that pattern formation is already completed on a timescale comparable to the geometrical expansion of the ejecta curtain, which is ~ 10 microseconds in our experiment. Our simulations confirm the previous prediction that the heterogeneous pattern grows through initial inelastic collisions of particle clusters and subsequent geometric expansion with no further cluster collisions. Furthermore, to better understand the two-stage evolution of the mesh pattern, we construct a simple analytical model that assumes perfect coalescence of particle clusters upon collision. The model shows that the pattern formation is completed on the timescale of the system's expansion independently of the initial conditions. The model also reproduces the final size of the clusters observed in our simulations as a function of the initial conditions. It is known that particles in the target are ejected at lower speeds with increased distance to the impact point. The difference in the ejection speed of the particles may result in the evolution of the mesh pattern into rays.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2021

The role of post-shock heating by plastic deformation during impact devolatilization of calcite

An accurate understanding of the relationship between the impact conditions and the degree of shock-induced thermal metamorphism in meteorites allows the impact environment in the early Solar System to be understood. A recent hydrocode has revealed that impact heating is much higher than previously thought. This is because plastic deformation of the shocked rocks causes further heating during decompression, which is termed post-shock heating. Here we compare impact simulations with laboratory experiments on the impact devolatilization of calcite to investigate whether the post-shock heating is also significant in natural samples. We calculated the mass of CO$_2$ produced from the calcite, based on thermodynamics. We found that iSALE can reproduce the devolatilization behavior for rocks with the strength of calcite. In contrast, the calculated masses of CO2 at lower rock strengths are systematically smaller than the experimental values. Our results require a reassessment of the interpretation of thermal metamorphism in meteorites.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Impact Ejecta near the Impact Point Observed using Ultra-high-speed Imaging and SPH Simulations, and a Comparison of the Two Methods

High-speed impact ejecta at velocities comparable to the impact velocity are expected to contribute to material transport between planetary bodies and deposition of ejecta far from the impact crater. We investigated the behavior of high-speed ejecta produced at angles of 45 and 90 degrees, using both experimental and numerical methods. The experimental system developed at the Planetary Exploration Research Center of Chiba Institute of Technology (Japan) allowed us to observe the initial growth of the ejecta. We succeeded in imaging high-speed ejecta at 0.2 $\mathrm{μ}$s intervals for impacts of polycarbonate projectiles of 4.8 mm diameter onto a polycarbonate plate at an impact velocity of ~4 km s$^{-1}$. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of various numerical resolutions were conducted for the same impact conditions as pertaining to the experiments. We compared the morphology and velocities of the ejecta for the experiments and simulations, and we confirmed a close match for high-resolution simulations (with $\geq10^6$ SPH particles representing the projectile). According to the ejecta velocity distributions obtained from our high-resolution simulations, the ejection velocities of the high-speed ejecta for oblique impacts are much greater than those for vertical impacts. The translational motion of penetrating projectiles parallel to the target surface in oblique impacts could cause long-term, sustained acceleration at the root of the ejecta.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Generating metal-polluting debris in white dwarf planetary systems from small-impact crater ejecta

Metal pollution in white dwarf photospheres originates from the accretion of some combination of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, boulders, pebbles and dust. When large bodies reside in dynamically stagnant locations -- unable themselves to pollute nor even closely approach the white dwarf -- then smaller reservoirs of impact debris may become a complementary or the primary source of metal pollutants. Here, we take a first step towards exploring this possibility by computing limits on the recoil mass that escapes the gravitational pull of the target object following a single impact onto an atmosphere-less surface. By considering vertical impacts only with the full-chain analytical prescription from Kurosawa & Takada (2019), we provide lower bounds for the ejected mass for basalt, granite, iron and water-rich target objects across the radii range 10^{0-3} km. Our use of the full-chain prescription as opposed to physical experiments or hydrocode simulations allows us to quickly sample a wide range of parameter space appropriate to white dwarf planetary systems. Our numerical results could be used in future studies to constrain freshly-generated small debris reservoirs around white dwarfs given a particular planetary system architecture, bombardment history, and impact geometries.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Transport of impact ejecta from Mars to its moons as a means to reveal Martian history

Throughout the history of the solar system, Mars has experienced continuous asteroidal impacts. These impacts have produced impact-generated Mars ejecta, and a fraction of this debris is delivered to Earth as Martian meteorites. Another fraction of the ejecta is delivered to the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Here, we studied the amount and condition of recent delivery of impact ejecta from Mars to its moons. Using state-of-the-art numerical approaches, we report, for the first time, that materials delivered from Mars to its moons are physically and chemically different from the Martian meteorites, which are all igneous rocks with a limited range of ages. We show that Mars ejecta mixed in the regolith of its moons potentially covers all its geological eras and consists of all types of rocks, from sedimentary to igneous. A Martian moons sample-return mission will bring such materials back to Earth, and the samples will provide a wealth of "time-resolved" geochemical information about the evolution of Martian surface environments.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Crater-ray formation through mutual collisions of hypervelocity-impact induced ejecta particles

We investigate the patterns observed in ejecta curtain induced by hypervelocity impact (2-6 km/s) with a variety of the size and shape of target particles. We characterize the patterns by an angle, defined as the ratio of the characteristic length of the pattern obtained by Fourier transformation to the distance from the impact point. This angle is found to be almost the same as that obtained by the reanalysis of the patterns in the previous study at lower impact velocities (Kadono et al., 2015, Icarus 250, 215-221), which are consistent with lunar crater-ray systems. Assuming that the pattern is formed by mutual collision of particles with fluctuation velocity in excavation flow, we evaluate an angle at which the pattern growth stops and show that this angle is the same in the order of magnitude as the ratio of the fluctuation velocity and the radial velocity. This relation is confirmed in the results of experiments and numerical simulations. Finally, we discuss the dependence of the patterns on impact conditions. The experiments show no dependence of the angle on impact velocity. This indicates that the ratio between the fluctuation and radial velocity components in excavation flow does not depend on impact velocity. Moreover, the independences on particle size and particle shape suggest that the angle characterizing the structure of the patterns does not depend on cohesive force. Since cohesive forces should be related with elastic properties of particles, the structure does not depend on elastic properties, though inelastic collisions are important for the persistence and contrast of the patterns.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Enhancement of impact heating in pressure-strengthened rocks in oblique impacts

Shock-induced metamorphism in meteorites informs us about the collisional environment and history of our solar system. Recently the importance of material strength in impact heating was reported from head-on impact simulations. Here, we perform three-dimensional oblique impact simulations, and confirm the additional heating due to material strength for oblique impacts. Despite a large difference in the peak pressure at the impact point at a given impact velocity, we find that the heated mass for an oblique impact is nearly the same as that for a head-on impact. Thus, our results differ from the previous finding that the heated mass decreases as the impact becomes more oblique, and show that the additional shear heating is more effective for oblique impacts than for head-on impacts. This also indicates that material ejected during oblique impact tends to experience lower shock pressures but higher temperatures.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Assessment of the probability of microbial contamination for sample return from Martian moons I: Departure of microbes from Martian surface

Potential microbial contamination of Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, which can be brought about by transportation of Mars ejecta produced by meteoroid impacts on the Martian surface, has been comprehensively assessed in a statistical approach, based on the most probable history of recent major gigantic meteoroid collisions on the Martian surface. This article is the first part of our study to assess potential microbial density in Mars ejecta departing from the Martian atmosphere, as a source of the second part where statistical analysis of microbial contamination probability is conducted. Potential microbial density on the Martian surface as the source of microorganisms was estimated by analogy to the terrestrial areas having the similar arid and cold environments, from which a probabilistic function was deduced as the asymptotic limit. Microbial survival rate during hypervelocity meteoroid collisions was estimated by numerical analysis of impact phenomena with and without taking internal friction and plastic deformation of the colliding meteoroid and the target ground into consideration. Trajectory calculations of departing ejecta through the Martian atmosphere were conducted with taking account of aerodynamic deceleration and heating by the aid of computational fluid dynamic analysis. It is found that Mars ejecta smaller than 0.03 m in diameter hardly reach the Phobos orbit due to aerodynamic deceleration, or mostly sterilized due to significant aerodynamic heating even though they can reach the Phobos orbit and beyond. Finally, the baseline dataset of microbial density in Mars ejecta departing for Martian moons has been presented for the second part of our study.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Assessment of the probability of microbial contamination for sample return from Martian moons II: The fate of microbes on Martian moons

This paper presents a case study of microbe transportation in the Mars-satellites system. We examined the spatial distribution of potential impact-transported microbes on the Martian moons using impact physics by following a companion study (Fujita et al.). We used sterilization data from the precede studies. We considered that the microbes came mainly from the Zunil crater on Mars. We found that 70-80% of the microbes are likely to be dispersed all over the moon surface and are rapidly sterilized due to radiation except for those microbes within a thick ejecta deposit produced by meteoroids. The other 20-30% might be shielded from radiation by thick regolith layers that formed at collapsed layers in craters produced by Mars rock impacts. The total number of potentially surviving microbes at the thick ejecta deposits is estimated to be 3-4 orders of magnitude lower than at the Mars rock craters. The microbe concentration is irregular in the horizontal direction and is largely depth-dependent due to the radiation sterilization. The surviving fraction of transported microbes would be only 1 ppm on Phobos and 100 ppm on Deimos, suggesting that the transport processes and radiation severely affect microbe survival. The microbe sampling probability from the Martian moons was also investigated. We suggest that sample return missions from the Martian moons are classified into Unrestricted Earth-Return missions for 30 g samples and 10 cm depth sampling, even in our conservative scenario. We also conducted a full statistical analysis for sampling the regolith of Phobos to include the effects of uncertainties in input parameters on the sampling probability. The most likely probability of microbial contamination for return samples is estimated to be two orders of magnitude lower than the criterion defined by the planetary protection policy of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Shock vaporization/devolatilization of evaporitic minerals, halite and gypsum, in an open system investigated by a two-stage light gas gun

Dry lakebeds might constitute large volatile reservoirs on Mars. Hypervelocity impacts onto ancient dry lakebeds would have affected the volatile distribution on Mars. We developed a new experimental method to investigate the response of evaporitic minerals (halite and gypsum) to impact shocks in an open system. This technique does not result in chemical contamination from the operation of the gas gun. The technique is termed the two-valve method and the gun system is located in the Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Japan. We detected the vaporization of halite at 31 GPa and devolatilization from gypsum at 11 GPa, suggesting that impact-induced volatile release from dry lakebeds has periodically occurred throughout Martian history. The vaporization of halite deposits might have enhanced the production of perchlorates, which are found globally on Mars. The water loss from gypsum possibly explains the coexisting types of Ca-sulfates found in Gale Crater.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2018

Impact cratering mechanics: A forward approach to predicting ejecta velocity distribution and transient crater radii

Impact craters are among the most prominent topographic features on planetary bodies. Crater scaling laws allow us to extract information about the impact histories on the host bodies. The pi-group scaling laws have been constructed based on the point-source approximation, dimensional analysis, and the results from impact experiments. Recent impact experiments, however, demonstrated that the scaling parameters themselves exhibits complex behavior against the change in the impact conditions and target properties. Here, we propose an alternative, fully analytical method to predict impact outcomes based on impact cratering mechanics. This approach is based on the Maxwell Z-model and the residual velocity. We present analytical expressions of (1) the proportionality relation between the ejection velocity and the ejection position, (2) the radius of a growing crater as a function of time, and (3) the transient crater radii. Since we focused on obtaining analytical solutions, a number of simplifications are employed. Due to the simplifications in the strength model, the accuracy of the prediction in the strength-dominated regime is relatively low. Our model reproduces the power-law behavior of the ejecta velocity distribution and the approximate time variation of a growing crater. The predicted radii under typical impact conditions mostly converge to a region between the two typical scaling lines by the pi-group scaling laws, strongly supporting the notion that the new method is one of the simplest ways to predict impact outcomes, as it provides analytical solutions. Our model could serve as a quick-look tool to estimate the impact outcome under a given set of conditions, and it might provide new insights into the nature of impact excavation processes.

astro-ph.EP↗