The asteroidal belt and Kirkwood gaps—II. Kinematical theory

We have developed a kinematical theory for the asteroidal belt and Kirkwood gaps from the point of view of stellar dynamics. We have generated the potential that would produce these gaps and have made a spectral analysis study. We have shown that these gaps could be due to spiral tubes of matter in the ecliptic plane as a consequence of differential rotation and spatial interference of density waves. We have also shown that this mechanism could account for depletion of matter from this region.