Cambridge University Press (CUP), Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAUC197(2004)
DOI: 10.1017/s1743921304008634
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We study the population of asteroids inside the 2/1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, in the so called Hecuba gap. Origin of these bodies is not well understood: (i) the long-lived (stable) population may be primordial, but this contradicts its steep size distribution, while (ii) the short-lived (unstable) population requires an efficient sustaining mechanism. Our working hypothesis is that the unstable asteroids are continuously resupplied from outside the resonance by the Yarkovsky effect. As a first step toward comparison of such model with observations, we report here an update of the observed population of asteroids residing in the 2/1 Jovian reso-nance, mainly because the number of cataloged orbits increased substantially during the last few years. We found there are 153 numbered and multi-opposition resonant asteroids in total and we classified them into the three sub-populations according to their dynamical lifetime. Our work also allowed us to derive several important parameters such as asteroid locations inside the reso-nance or size distribution of the sub-populations. As a particular novelty, we identified 6 asteroids located inside the high-eccentricity quasi-regular stable island, which previously seemed empty.