The Increasingly Strange Polarimetric Behavior of the Barbarian Asteroids

May 2023 • 2023PSJ.....4...93M

Authors • Masiero, Joseph R. • Devogèle, Maxime • Macias, Isabella • Castaneda Jaimes, Joahan • Cellino, Alberto

Abstract • Polarization phase-curve measurements provide a unique constraint on the surface properties of asteroids that are complementary to those from photometry and spectroscopy and have led to the identification of the "Barbarian" asteroids as a class of objects with highly unusual surfaces. We present new near-infrared polarimetric observations of six Barbarian asteroids obtained with the WIRC+Pol instrument on the Palomar Hale telescope. We find a dramatic change in polarimetric behavior from visible to near-infrared for these objects, including a change in the polarimetric inversion angle that is tied to the index of refraction of the surface material. Our observations support a two-phase surface composition consisting of high albedo and high index of refraction inclusions with a small optical size scale embedded in a dark matrix material more closely related to C-complex asteroids. These results are consistent with the interpretation that the Barbarians are remnants of a population of primitive bodies that formed shortly after calcium-aluminum-rich inclusion (CAIs). Near-infrared polarimetry provides a direct test of the constituent grains of asteroid surfaces.

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.04880
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.3847%2FPSJ%2Facd383