DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION AND STATISTICS OF DAMOCLOIDS. 1

Abstract

The orbital evolution of 144 Damocloids and their clones (12 for each real object, a total of 1872 test particles) is modeled for 100 million years in the future. It is shown that the population of Damocloids retains high orbital inclinations during the integration time of 100 million years. By their dynamic life time, Damocloids can be divided into two subpopulations, with a short and
long time of life. The first includes 85.75% of the objects and has an average life span of 2.68 ± 0.04 million years. The subsistence population with a long life span is 14.25%, with an average lifetime of 126 ± 6 million years. The main parameter by which the division can be made without prior simulations is perihelion distance: We found 5 interesting objects that have a long time
of life, but in parameter space they occupy positions among objects with a short life span. Taking into account the bimodal distribution of Damocloids in a dynamic life span, it is proposed to clarify the definition of Damocloids by perihelion distance q (more or less than 9 AU). We propose to name these long-lived and short-lived subpopulations as trans-Saturnian and pre-Saturnian Damocloids.