Abstract
KIRKWOOD GAPS1 are gaps in the distribution of mean motion of asteroids at the multiples 2/1, 5/2, 3/1 and so on, of Jupiter's mean motion; but at the value 3/2, there is actually a concentration. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the best-determined orbits in the (semi-major axis, eccentricity)- or (a, e)-plane around the 2/1 resonance (the Hecuba Gap) and the 3/2 resonance (the Hilda Group). The sharp contrast between the two cases, especially in the eccentricity range 0.15<e<0.25, demonstrates the problem, and I show here that the Hilda region is stable in a well-defined sense, and the Hecuba region is unstable.
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KIANG, T. Kirkwood Gaps and stability of conservative periodic systems. Nature 273, 734–736 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/273734a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/273734a0
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