# Cartography for Martian Trojans

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The Lagrange points $`L_4`$ and $`L_5`$ are stable in the restricted three body problem (e.g., Danby 1988). However, the long-term survival of Trojans around the Lagrange points of the planets in the presence of perturbations from the remainder of the Solar System is a difficult and still unsolved problem (e.g., Érdi 1997). Jovian Trojan asteroids have been known since the early years of this century, while a number of Saturnian moons (e.g., Dione and Helene, Tethys and Calypso, Tethys and Telesto) also form Trojan configurations with their parent planet. However, whether there exist Trojan-like bodies associated with the other planets has been the matter of both observational activity (e.g., Tombaugh 1961, Kowal 1971) and intense theoretical speculation (e.g., Weissman & Wetherill 1974, Mikkola & Innanen 1990, 1992). The answer to this problem came in 1990, with the discovery of 5261 Eureka, the first Trojan around Mars (see Mikkola et al. 1994 for details). The last few months of 1998 have seen further remarkable progress with the discovery of one certain Martian Trojan, namely 1998 VF31, as well as two further candidates, namely 1998 SD4 and 1998 QH56 (see the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars 1998-W04, 1998-R02, 1998-S20  and the Minor Planet Circular 33085). The suggestion that 1998 QH56 and 1998 VF31 might be Martian Trojans was first made by G.V. Williams.

These recent discoveries raise very directly the following questions. Are there any more Martian Trojans? If so, where should the observational effort be concentrated? Of course, the first question can only be answered at the telescope, but the resolution of the second question is provided in this Letter. By integrating numerically an ensemble of inclined and in-plane orbits in the vicinity of the Martian Lagrange points for 25 and 60 million years respectively, the stable régimes are mapped out. On re-simulating and sampling the ensemble of stable orbits, the probability density of Martian Trojans as a function of longitude and inclination can be readily obtained. If a comparatively puny body such as Mars possesses Trojans, the existence of such objects around the larger terrestrial planets also merits very serious attention. There are Trojan orbits associated with Venus and the Earth that survive for tens of millions of years (e.g., Tabachnik & Evans 1998). If objects populating such orbits exist, they must be small else they would have been found by now.

## 2 MARTIAN TROJANS

Saha & Tremaine (1992, 1994) have taken the symplectic integrators developed by Wisdom & Holman (1991) and added individual planetary timesteps to provide a fast code that it is tailor-made for long numerical integrations of low eccentricity orbits in a nearly Keplerian force field. In our simulations, the model of the Solar System consists of the eight planets from Mercury to Neptune, together with test particles starting near the Lagrange points. The effect of Pluto on the evolution of Martian Trojans is quite negligible. Of course, the Trojan test particles are perturbed by the Sun and planets but do not themselves exert any gravitational forces. The initial positions and velocities of the planets, as well as their masses, are provided by the JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides DE405 and the starting epoch is JD 2440400.5 (28 June 1969). All our simulations include the most important post-Newtonian corrections, as well as the effects of the Moon. Individual timesteps are invaluable for this work, as orbital periods are much smaller in the Inner Solar System than the Outer. For all the computations described in this Letter, the timestep for Mercury is $`14.27`$ days. The timesteps of the planets are in the ratio $`1:2:2:4:8:8:64:64`$ for Mercury moving outwards, so that Neptune has a timestep of $`2.5`$ years. The Trojan particles all have the same timestep as Mercury. These values were chosen after some experimentation to ensure the relative energy error has a peak amplitude of $`10^6`$ over the tens of million year integration timespans. After each timestep, the Trojan test particles are examined to see whether their orbits have become hyperbolic or if they have entered the planet’s sphere of influence (defined as $`r_\mathrm{s}=a_\mathrm{p}M_\mathrm{p}^{2/5}`$ where $`a_\mathrm{p}`$ and $`M_\mathrm{p}`$ are the semimajor axis and mass of the planet). If so, they are terminated. In methodology, our calculations are very similar to the magisterial work on the Trojan problem for the four giant planets by Holman & Wisdom (1993). The earlier calculations of Mikkola & Innanen (1994, 1995) on the Trojans of Mars for timespans of between tens of thousands and 6 million years have also proved influential. Our integrations of Trojan orbits are pursued for durations ranging from 25 to 60 million years, the longest integration periods currently available. Nonetheless, the orbits have been followed for only a tiny fraction of the age of the Solar System ($`4.5`$ Gigayears), so it is wise to remain a little cautious about our results.

Figure 1 shows the results of our first experiment. Here, the orbits of 1080 Trojan test particles around Mars are integrated for 25 million years. The initial inclinations of the test particles (with respect to the plane of Mars’ orbit) are spaced every $`2^{}`$ from $`0^{}`$ to $`90^{}`$ and the initial longitudes (again with respect to Mars) are spaced every $`15^{}`$ from $`0^{}`$ to $`360^{}`$. The starting semimajor axes and the eccentricities of the Trojans are the same as the parent planet. Only the test particles surviving till the end of the 25 million year integration are marked on the Figure. The survivors occupy a band of inclinations between $`10^{}`$ and $`40^{}`$ and longitudes between $`30^{}`$ and $`120^{}`$ (the $`L_4`$ Lagrange point) or $`240^{}`$ and $`330^{}`$ (the $`L_5`$ point). On the basis of 4 million year timespan integrations, Mikkola & Innanen (1994) claim that stable Martian Trojans have inclinations between $`15^{}`$ and $`30^{}`$ and between $`32^{}`$ and $`44^{}`$ with respect to Jupiter’s orbit. Our longer integrations seem to suggest a more complex picture. Mikkola & Innanen’s instability strip between $`30^{}`$ and $`32^{}`$ can be detected in Figure 1, but only for objects near $`L_4`$ with initial longitudes $`<60^{}`$. In particular, this instability strip does not exist around $`L_5`$ and here Trojans with starting inclinations $`30^{}<i<32^{}`$ seem to be stable – as is also evidenced by the recent discovery of 1998 VF31. Marked on the figure are the instantaneous positions of the two certain Martian Trojans, namely 5261 Eureka (marked as a red circle) and 1998 VF31 (a green circle), as well as the two candidates 1998 QH56 (a blue circle) and 1998 SD4 (a yellow circle). It is delightful to see that the two securely established Trojans lie within the stable zone, which was computed by Tabachnik & Evans (1998) before the discovery of 1998 VF31. In fact, they live deep within the heart of the zone, suggesting that they may even be primordial. The two candidates (1998 QH56 and 1998 SD4) lie closer to the rim. Let us finally note that Trojans starting off in or near the plane of Mars’ orbit are unstable. This has been confirmed by an extensive survey of in-plane Martian Trojans. On integrating 792 test particles with vanishing inclination but with a range of longitudes and semimajor axes, we found that all are unstable on timescales of $`60`$ million years. Martian Trojans with low inclinations are not expected.

It is useful to an observer hoping to discover further Trojans to provide plots of the probability density. Accordingly, let us re-simulate the stable zones with much greater resolution. This is accomplished by placing a total of 746 test particles every $`1^{}`$ in initial inclination and every $`5^{}`$ in initial longitude so as to span completely the stable regions. This ensemble of orbits is then integrated and the orbital elements are sampled every 2.5 years to provide the plots displayed in Figure 2. The upper panel shows the meshed surface of the probability density as a function of both inclination to the invariable plane and longitude with respect to the planet. The asymmetry between the two Lagrange points is evident. The lower panels show the projections of the meshed surface onto the principal planes – in particular, for the inclination plot, we have shown the contribution at each Lagrange point separately. There are a number of interesting conclusions to be drawn from the plots. First, as shown by the dotted line, the probability density is bimodal at $`L_4`$. It possesses a flattish maximum at inclinations between $`15^{}`$ and $`30^{}`$ and then falls sharply, before rising to a second maximum at $`36^{}`$. At $`L_5`$, all inclinations between $`15^{}`$ and $`40^{}`$ carry a significant probability, though the smaller inclinations in this band are most favored. It is within these inclination windows that the observational effort should be most concentrated. Second, the probability density is peaked at longitudes of $`60^{}`$ ($`L_4`$) and $`300^{}`$ ($`L_5`$). The most likely place to observe one of these Trojans is indeed at the classical locations of the Lagrange points. This is not intuitively obvious, as any individual Trojan is most likely to be seen at the turning points of its longitudinal libration. There are two reasons why this effect is not evident in our probability density plots. First, our figures refer to an ensemble of Trojans uniformly populating the stable zone. So, the shape of the stable zone also plays an important role in controlling the position of the maximum of the probability density. Second, the positions of the Lagrange points themselves are oscillating and so the turning points of the longitudinal libration do not occur at the same locations, thus smearing out the enhancement effect.

Table 1 lists the orbital elements of the two secure Martian Trojans and the two candidates, as recorded by the Minor Planet Center. From the instantaneous elements, it is straightforward to simulate the trajectories of the objects. Figure 3 shows the orbits plotted in the plane of longitude (with respect to Mars) versus semimajor axis. As the figures illustrate, both 5261 Eureka and 1998 VF31 are stable and maintain their tadpole character (see e.g., Garfinkel 1977) for durations of 50 million years. Based on preliminary orbital elements, Mikkola et al. (1994) integrated the orbit of 5261 Eureka and found that its longitudinal libration was large, quoting $`297^{}\pm 26^{}`$ as the typical range in the longitudinal angle. Our orbit of 5261 Eureka, based on the latest orbital elements, seems to show a smaller libration of $`285314^{}`$. The remaining two objects that have been suggested as Martian Trojans, 1998 QH56 and 1998 SD4, both enter the sphere of influence of Mars – in the former case after $`\mathrm{500\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ years, in the latter case after $`\mathrm{100\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ years. Although the orbits are Mars crossing, their eccentricities remain low and their inclinations oscillate tightly about mean values until the Mars’ sphere of influence is entered. It is possible that these objects were once Trojans and have been ejected from the stable zones, a possibility that receives some support from their locations in Figure 1 at the fringes of the stable zones. Of course, another possibility is that they are ejected asteroids from the Main Belt.

The fact that both confirmed Martian Trojans lie deep within the stable zones in Figure 1 suggests that these objects may be primordial. If so, we can get a crude estimate of possible numbers by extrapolation from the number of Main Belt asteroids (c.f., Holman 1997, Evans & Tabachnik 1999). The number of Main Belt asteroids $`N_{\mathrm{MB}}`$ is $`N_{\mathrm{MB}}<\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{MB}}A_{\mathrm{MB}}f`$, where $`A_{\mathrm{MB}}`$ is the area of the Main Belt, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{MB}}`$ is the surface density of the proto-planetary disk and $`f`$ is the fraction of primordial objects that survive ejection (which we assume to be a universal constant). Let us take the Main Belt to be centered on $`2.75`$ AU with a width of $`1.5`$ AU. The belt of Martian Trojans is centered on $`1.52`$ AU and has a width of $`<0.0025`$ AU. If the primordial surface density falls off inversely proportional to distance, then the number of Martian Trojans $`N_{\mathrm{MT}}`$ is

$$N_{\mathrm{MT}}<\left(\frac{2.75}{1.52}\right)\left(\frac{1.52\times 0.0025}{2.75\times 1.5}\right)N_{\mathrm{MB}}0.0016N_{\mathrm{MB}}$$
(1)   
The number of known Main Belt asteroids with diameters $`>1`$ km is $`>40000`$, which suggests that the number of Martian Trojans is $`>50`$.

## 3 CONCLUSIONS

Motivated by the recent discovery of a new Mars Trojans (1998 VF31) as well as further possible candidates (1998 QH56, 1998 SD4), this paper has provided maps of the stable zones for Martian Trojans and estimates of the numbers of undiscovered objects. For Mars, the observational effort should be concentrated at inclinations satisfying $`15^{}<i<30^{}`$ and $`32^{}<i<40^{}`$ for the $`L_4`$ Lagrange point and between $`15^{}`$ and $`40^{}`$ for $`L_5`$. These are the spots where the probability density is significant (see Figure 2), though the lower inclinations in these bands are slightly more favored than the higher. Trojans in or close the orbital plane of Mars are unstable. Crude estimates suggest there may be as many as $`50`$ undiscovered Martian Trojans with sizes $`>1`$ km . The orbits of 5261 Eureka and 1998 VF31 remain Trojan-like for durations of at least 50 million years. The other candidates, 1998 QH56 and 1998 SD4, are not currently Trojans, though it is conceivable that they may once have been. Both objects will probably enter the sphere of influence of Mars after $`<0.5`$ million years.

NWE is supported by the Royal Society, while ST acknowledges financial help from the European Community. We wish to thank John Chambers, Luke Dones, Seppo Mikkola, Prasenjit Saha and Scott Tremaine for many helpful comments and suggestions. We are also grateful for the remarkable service to the academic community provided by the Minor Planet Center. The anonymous referee helpfully provided improved orbital elements for the Trojan candidates for our integrations.