Meteoroid Stream Searching: The Use of the Vectorial Elements

In this initial study, we propose a new distance function D _V involving heliocentric vectorial orbital elements. The function measures differences between: the orbital energies, the angular momentums vectors and the Laplace vectors. In comparison with the widely used D _SH criterion of Southworth and Hawkins, D _D criterion of Drummond and their hybrid D _H by Jopek, the new function contains one invariant with respect to the principal secular perturbation: the orbital energy. The new function proved to be useful in the classification amongst the IAU2003 meteoroids which we searched for streams by D _V function and also using D _SH and D _N -function given by Valsecchi et al. For major streams, the results agree very well. For minor, and near-ecliptical streams the results sometimes differ markedly.