arXiv subjects

Norbert Schorghofer

Publications and source records attributed to Norbert Schorghofer.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Current Theories of Lunar Ice

The classical theory of cold-trapped ice on the Moon and some modern theories are reviewed and compared with observational constraints. The "standard model" for lunar ice posits that ice has accumulated in polar cold traps after the spin axis orientation became small enough for polar craters to be permanently shadowed. Its predictions are consistent with major observational constraints. Only a few less established observational claims are unaccounted for. The text focuses on fundamental theoretical concepts and assumes some pre-existing familiarity with the topic of lunar polar volatiles.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2021

Erosion of volatiles by micro-meteoroid bombardment on Ceres, and comparison to the Moon and Mercury

(1) Ceres, the largest reservoir of water in the main-belt, was recently visited by the Dawn spacecraft that revealed several areas bearing H$_2$O-ice features. Independent telescopic observations showed a water exosphere of currently unknown origin. We explore the effects of meteoroid impacts on Ceres considering the topography obtained from the Dawn mission using a widely-used micro-meteoroid model and ray-tracing techniques. Meteoroid populations with $0.01-2$ mm diameters are considered. We analyze the short-term effects Ceres experiences during its current orbit as well as long-term effects over the entire precession cycle. We find the entire surface is subject to meteoroid bombardment leaving no areas in permanent shadow with respect to meteoroid influx. The equatorial parts of Ceres produce $80\%$ more ejecta than the polar regions due to the large impact velocity of long-period comets. Mass flux, energy flux, and ejecta production vary seasonally by a factor of $3-7$ due to the inclined eccentric orbit. Compared to Mercury and the Moon, Ceres experiences significantly smaller effects of micro-meteoroid bombardment, with a total mass flux of $4.5\pm1.2\times10^{-17}$ kg m$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. On average Mercury is subjected to a $50\times$ larger mass flux and generates $700\times$ more ejecta than Ceres, while the lunar mass flux is $10\times$ larger, and the ejecta generation is $30\times$ larger than on Ceres. For these reasons, we find that meteoroid impacts are an unlikely candidate for the production of a water exosphere or significant excavation of surface features. The surface turnover rate from the micro-meteoroid populations considered is estimated to be $1.25$ Myr on Ceres.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Thermodynamics of Surface-Bounded Exospheres

Neutral exospheres of the Moon, Mercury, and several other solar system bodies consist of particles on ballistic trajectories. Here, the vertical density profile of a surface-bounded exosphere is calculated using thermodynamic averages of an ensemble of ballistic trajectories. When the initial velocities follow the so-called "Maxwell-Boltzmann Flux" (MBF) distribution, the classical density profile results. For many other probability distributions, the density approaches infinity near the surface and has a more ground-hugging vertical profile than the classical solution. Even MBF on a rough surface results in a ground-hugging component. Observed vertical density profiles that were interpreted as a superposition of a hot and a cold (ground hugging) population may in fact be consistent with a population at a single temperature.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2020

Potential Themis Family Asteroid Contribution to the Jupiter-Family Comet Population

Recent dynamical analyses suggest that some Jupiter family comets (JFCs) may originate in the main asteroid belt instead of the outer solar system. This possibility is particularly interesting given evidence that icy main-belt objects are known to be present in the Themis asteroid family. We report results from dynamical analyses specifically investigating the possibility that icy Themis family members could contribute to the observed population of JFCs. Numerical integrations show that such dynamical evolution is indeed possible via a combination of eccentricity excitation apparently driven by the nearby 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter, gravitational interactions with planets other than Jupiter, and the Yarkovsky effect. We estimate that, at any given time, there may be tens of objects from the Themis family on JFC-like orbits with the potential to mimic active JFCs from the outer solar system, although not all, or even any, may necessarily be observably active. We find that dynamically evolved Themis family objects on JFC-like orbits have semimajor axes between 3.15 au and 3.40 au for the vast majority of their time on such orbits, consistent with the strong role that the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter likely plays in their dynamical evolution. We conclude that a contribution from the Themis family to the active JFC population is plausible, although further work is needed to better characterize this contribution.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2019

Dynamic and Isotopic Evolution of Ice Reservoirs on Mars

The layered polar caps of Mars have long been thought to be related to variations in orbit and axial tilt. We dynamically link Mars's past climate variations with the stratigraphy and isotopic composition of its ice by modeling the exchange of H2O and HDO among three reservoirs. The model shows that the interplay among equatorial, mid-latitude, and north-polar layered deposits (NPLD) induces significant isotopic changes in the cap. The diffusive properties of the sublimation lags and dust content in our model result in a cap size consistent with current Mars. The layer thicknesses are mostly controlled by obliquity variations, but the precession period of 50 kyr dominates the variations in the isotopic composition during epochs of relatively low and nearly constant obliquity such as at present. Isotopic sampling of the top 100 meters may reveal climate oscillations unseen in the layer thicknesses and would thus probe recent precession-driven climate cycles.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2018

Spectrophotometric Modeling and Mapping of Ceres

We report a comprehensive analysis of the global spectrophotometric properties of Ceres using Dawn Framing Camera images collected from April to June 2015 during the RC3 and Survey mission phases. The single-scattering albedo of Ceres at 555 nm is 0.14$\pm$0.04, the geometric albedo is 0.096$\pm$0.006, and the Bond albedo is 0.037$\pm$0.002. The asymmetry factors calculated from the best-fit two-term Henyey-Greenstein (HG) single-particle phase function (SPPF) show a wavelength dependence, suggesting that the phase reddening of Ceres is dominated by single-particle scattering rather than multiple scattering or small-scale surface roughness. The Hapke roughness parameter of Ceres is derived to be 20$^\circ\pm$6$^\circ$ with no wavelength dependence. The phase function of Ceres shows appreciably strong scattering around 90$^\circ$ phase angle that cannot be fitted with a single-term HG SPPF, suggesting possible stronger forward scattering than other asteroids previously analyzed with spacecraft data. We speculate that such a scattering characteristic of Ceres might be related to its unique surface composition. We grouped the reflectance data into a 1$^\circ$ latitude-longitude grid and fitted each grid independently to study the spatial variations of photometric properties. The albedo and color maps are consistent with previous studies. The SPPF over the surface of Ceres shows stronger backscattering associated with lower albedo and vice versa, consistent with the general trend among asteroids. The Hapke roughness parameter does not vary much across the surface of Ceres, except for the ancient Vendimia Planitia region that has a slightly higher roughness. Based on the wavelength dependence of the SPPF of Ceres, we hypothesize that its regolith grains either contain a considerable fraction of $\lessapproxμ$m-sized particles, or are strongly affected by internal scatterers of this size.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2014

The Main-Belt Comets: The Pan-STARRS1 Perspective

We analyze 760475 observations of 333026 main-belt objects obtained by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) survey telescope between 2012 May 20 and 2013 November 9, a period during which PS1 discovered two main-belt comets, P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) and P/2013 R3 (Catalina-PANSTARRS). PS1 comet detection procedures currently consist of the comparison of the point spread functions (PSFs) of moving objects to those of reference stars, and the flagging of objects that show anomalously large radial PSF widths. Based on the number of missed discovery opportunities among comets discovered by other observers, we estimate an upper limit comet discovery efficiency rate of ~70% for PS1. Additional analyses that could improve comet discovery yields in future surveys include linear PSF analysis, modeling of trailed stellar PSFs for comparison to trailed moving object PSFs, searches for azimuthally localized activity, comparison of point-source-optimized photometry to extended-source-optimized photometry, searches for photometric excesses in objects with known absolute magnitudes, and crowd-sourcing. Analysis of PS1 survey statistics indicates an expected fraction of 59 MBCs per 10^6 outer main-belt asteroids, and a 95% confidence upper limit of 96 MBCs per 10^6 outer main-belt asteroids. We note that more sensitive future surveys could detect many more MBCs than estimated here. We find an excess of high eccentricities (0.1 < e < 0.3) among all known MBCs relative to the background asteroid population. Theoretical calculations show that, given these eccentricities, the sublimation rate for a typical MBC is orders of magnitude larger at perihelion than at aphelion, providing a plausible physical explanation for the observed behavior of MBCs peaking in observed activity strength near perihelion.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2003

Spontaneous Channelization in Permeable Ground: Theory, Experiment, and Observation

Landscapes that are rhythmically dissected by natural drainage channels exist in various geologic and climatic settings. Such landscapes are characterized by a length-scale for the lateral spacing between channels. We observe a small-scale version of this process in the form of beach rills and reproduce channelization in a table-top seepage experiment. On the beach as well as in the experiments, channels are spontaneously incised by surface flow, but once initiated, they grow due to water emerging from underground. Field observation and experiment suggest the process can be described in terms of flow through a homogeneous porous medium with a freely shaped water table. According to this theory, small deformations of the underground water table amplify the flux into the channel and lead to further growth, a phenomenon we call ``Wentworth instability''. Piracy of groundwater can occur over distances much larger than the channel width. Channel spacing coarsens with time, until channels reach their maximum length.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2001

Statistics of velocity gradients in two-dimensional Navier-Stokes and ocean turbulence

Probability density functions and conditional averages of velocity gradients derived from upper ocean observations are compared with results from forced simulations of the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Ocean data are derived from TOPEX satellite altimeter measurements. The simulations use rapid forcing on large scales, characteristic of surface winds. The probability distributions of transverse velocity derivatives from the ocean observations agree with the forced simulations, though they differ from unforced simulations reported elsewhere. The distribution and cross-correlation of velocity derivatives provide clear evidence that large coherent eddies play only a minor role in generating the observed statistics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1999

Universality of Probability Distributions Among Two-Dimensional Turbulent Flows

We study statistical properties of two-dimensional turbulent flows. Three systems are considered: the Navier-Stokes equation, surface quasi-geostrophic flow, and a model equation for thermal convection in the Earth's mantle. Direct numerical simulations are used to determine 1-point fluctuation properties. Comparative study shows universality of probability density functions (PDFs) across different types of flow. Especially for the derivatives of the ``advected'' quantity, the shapes of the PDFs are the same for the three flows, once normalized by the average size of fluctuations. Theoretical models for the shape of PDFs are briefly discussed.

chao-dyn↗

arXiv1998

Nonsingular Surface-Quasi-Geostrophic Flow

The dynamics of large eddies in the atmosphere and oceans is described by the surface quasi geostrophic equation, which is reminiscent of the Euler equations. Thermal fronts build up rapidly. Two different numerical methods combined with analytical criteria are used to show there are no singularities in finite time.

math.NA↗

arXiv1996

Scaling and Linear Response in the GOY Turbulence model

The GOY model is a model for turbulence in which two conserved quantities cascade up and down a linear array of shells. When the viscosity parameter, $ν$, is small the model has a qualitative behavior which is similar to the Kolmogorov theories of turbulence. Here a static solution to the model is examined, and a linear stability analysis is performed to obtain response eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Both the static behavior and the linear response show an inertial range with a relatively simple scaling structure. Our main results are: (i) The response frequencies cover a wide range of scales, with ratios which can be understood in terms of the frequency scaling properties of the model. (ii) Even small viscosities play a crucial role in determining the model's eigenvalue spectrum. (iii) As a parameter within the model is varied, it shows a ``phase transition'' in which there is an abrupt change in many eigenvalues from stable to unstable values. (iv) The abrupt change is determined by the model's conservation laws and symmetries. This work is thus intended to add to our knowledge of the linear response of a stiff dynamical systems and at the same time to help illuminate scaling within a class of turbulence models.

chao-dyn↗