Asteroid families: open problems

Asteroid families are products of catastrophic collisions, and their properties are a very important input for modelling the physics which governs these phenomena. A deep change in the interpretation of the available data on families, after a first extensive set of analyses carried out after 1990, is currently proposed by several authors. This is mainly due to the recognition of the importance of the Yarkovsky effect as a powerful mechanism of evolution of asteroids' orbits. Moreover, also the most recent results of hydrocode simulations of catastrophic collision phenomena can hardly be reconciled with family data in the absence of mechanisms of evolution of the orbits. A new general scheme of interpretation, which is in several respects opposite with respect to earlier ideas developed without consideration of a Yarkovsky-driven evolution, is emerging. However, it is not yet fully clear to what extent earlier interpretations of family properties are really wrong, and a synthesis of pre-Yarkovsky and post-Yarkovsky interpretations is probably needed. The current situation is briefly reviewed.