On the origin of the Kirkwood Gaps

Abstract

It is proposed that the Kirkwood Gaps are primordial, representing regions where asteroids failed to form by accretion. A brief scenario is presented to indicate the main features of a model for the early history of the asteroids. An analytical treatment is given for the effects of a solar nebula upon the eccentricity-pumping of asteroids, due to secular perturbations and to commensurability-type resonances associated with Jupiter. It is shown that nebular effects promote growth of main-belt asteroids; but in commensurability regions, growth is inhibited. A discussion is given of two related problems: the origin of asteroidal eccentricities and inclinations, and the likelihood that Jupiter suffered major changes in its semimajor axis during its formation. It is suggested that in view of these problems, the present theory should not be taken as necessarily correct, but should be regarded as illustrative of viewpoints which in time may yield a correct theory.