Arches of chaos, heteroclinic connections of first-order MMRs and the chaotic transport of small bodies in the Sun-Jupiter system

Abstract

We investigate the heteroclinic connections between stable and unstable manifolds of unstable periodic orbits associated with the most important mean motion resonances (MMRs) in the Sun-Jupiter planar restricted three-body problem. We explicitly compute the stable and unstable manifolds of the unstable periodic orbits associated with the first order interior MMRs 2:1, 3:2, and the exterior MMR 2:3. We also compute short-time FLI maps showing the chaotic saddle structure created by the manifolds of several interior or exterior MMRs other than the 1:1 (co-orbital) resonance. Transits of particles from the exterior to the interior of Jupiter's orbit and vice versa are allowed for Tisserand parameter lesser than 3, and are shown to exist through a variety of heteroclinic channels. Besides the classical ones by Koon et al., we find heteroclinic connections between manifolds of short-period orbits around L3 and periodic orbits of interior or exterior first order MMRs, as well as direct connections between interior and exterior MMR manifolds not involving co-orbital periodic orbits. Through these manifolds and the corresponding FLI ridges, we explain the 'arches-of-chaos' in the asteroid orbital plane (a,e). Chaotic orbits shadowing heteroclinic trajectories exhibit resonance hopping, suggesting links to quasi-Hildas and Jupiter-family comets. Results are obtained in the circular RTBP but persist in the elliptic problem.