Near-Infrared Photopolarimetry of Large Main Belt Asteroid - (4) Vesta

The polarization degree as a function of phase angle (the Sun-target-observer's angle), so-called the polarimetric phase curves (PPC), have provided priceless information on asteroids' albedos since B. Lyot (1929). Succeeding experimental works in 1970s have confirmed the Umow law: There is a universal and strong correlation between the albedo and the PPC slope (slope of the tangential line at the zero of the PPC at phase angle ~ 20 degrees). Experiments in 1990s (ref [1]), on the other hand, have demonstrated that the negative branch of PPC is dependent on the size parameter (X ~ π * particle-size / wavelength), especially when X <~5. The change in particle size changed the minimum polarization degree, location of the minimum, and the width of the negative branch (called the inversion angle). From polarimetry[2] and spectroscopy[3], large asteroids are expected to be covered with fine (<~ 10 ㎛ size) particles due to the gravity. The size parameters are X ~ 30 at the optical wavelength (λ ~ 0.5 ㎛) and X ~ 10 in near-infrared (J, H, Ks bands; λ ~ 1.2-2.2 ㎛), if the representative particle size of 5 ㎛ is considered. Accordingly, the near-infrared polarimetry has a great potential to validate the idea in ref[1]. We conducted near-infrared photopolarimetry of the large asteroid (4) Vesta using the Nishiharima Infrared Camera (NIC) at Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory (NHAO). NIC allows simultaneous polarimetric measurements in J, H, and Ks bands, and thus the change of PPC is obtained for three different size parameters. As a result, we found a signature of the change in the negative branch in the PPC of asteroid (4) Vesta. We will introduce our observation and the results and give an interpretation of the regolith on Vesta.