Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/iii/paper-316/1/ii/solution

In resonant trapping of dust, the resonant torque must compensate the inward Poynting–Robertson drag. At the nearly fixed resonant semi-major axis, requires
Since , a necessary torque-balance condition is . When the limiting orbital eccentricity is small, this gives
Equality allows only the extreme phase , with no margin for restoring torque; a robust trapped state needs . This is a necessary condition for resonance capture, not a sufficient probability-of-capture criterion for a migrating particle.

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