Nonextensive distributions of asteroid rotation periods and diameters

¹ Programa de Engenharia Industrial, Escola Politécnica, Universidade Federal da Bahia, R. Aristides Novis 2, Federação, 40210-630 Salvador-BA, Brazil
e-mail: betzler.ssa@ftc.br
² Instituto de Física and National Institute of Science and Technology for Complex Systems, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus Universitário de Ondina, 40210-340 Salvador-BA, Brazil
e-mail: ernesto@ufba.br

Received: 25 July 2011
Accepted: 5 December 2011

Abstract

Context. We investigate the distribution of asteroid rotation periods from different regions of the solar system and diameter distributions of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).

Aims. We aim to verify if nonextensive statistics satisfactorily describes the data.

Methods. Light curve data were taken from the Planetary Database System (PDS) with Rel  ≥ 2. We also considered the taxonomic class and region of the solar system. Data of NEA were taken from the Minor Planet Center.

Results. The rotation periods of asteroids follow a q-Gaussian with q = 2.6 regardless of taxonomy, diameter, or region of the solar system of the object. The distribution of rotation periods is influenced by observational bias. The diameters of NEAs are described by a q-exponential with q = 1.3. According to this distribution, there are expected to be 994 ± 30 NEAs with diameters greater than 1 km.