The Precise and Powerful Chaos of the 5:2 Mean Motion Resonance with Jupiter

Natasa Todorovic

Published 2016-12-01Version 1

This work reexamines the dynamics of the 5:2 mean motion resonance with Jupiter located in the Outer Belt at $a\sim 2.82$ AU. First, we compute dynamical maps revealing the precise structure of chaos inside the resonance. Being interested to verify the chaotic structures as sources of natural transportation routes, we additionally integrate 1000 massless particles initially placed along them and follow their orbital histories up to 5 Myr. As many as 99.5\% of our test particles became Near-Earth Objects, 23.4\% migrated to semi-major axis below 1 AU and more than 57\% entered the Hill sphere of Earth. We have also observed a borderline defined by the $q \simeq 2.6$ AU perihelion distance along which particles escape from the Solar System.