On the Size Dependence of the Inclination Distribution of the Main Kuiper Belt

By Harold Levison, S. Stern. 2000

150 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a new analysis of the currently available orbital elements for the known Kuiper belt objects. In the nonresonant, main Kuiper belt, we find a statistically significant relationship between an object's absolute magnitude (H) and its inclination (i). Objects with H < 6.5 (i.e., radii ≳170 km for a 4% albedo) have higher inclinations than those with H > 6.5 (radii ≲170 km). We have shown that this relationship is not caused by any obvious observational bias. We argue that the main Kuiper belt consists of the superposition of two distinct distributions. One is dynamically hot, with inclinations as large as ∼35° and absolute magnitudes as bright as 4.5; the other is dynamically cold, with i ≲ 5° and H > 6.5. The dynamically cold population is most likely dynamically primordial. We speculate on the potential causes of this relationship.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6f74232eb95975f5e4e341cc37ec4a226afaae09

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. D. Nesvorný
2. A. Morbidelli
3. M. Brown
4. R. Malhotra
5. S. Kenyon
6. B. Bromley
7. D. Jewitt
8. R. Gomes

In Molecular Biology

1. R. Gomes
2. R. Malhotra
3. C. Trujillo
4. D. Jewitt
5. J. Luu
6. D. Nesvorný
7. M. Brown
8. J. Hahn

Citations in the corpus

• The origin of the Kuiper Belt high-inclination population (2003, background): “…results thus explain the bimodal inclination distribution of the classical Kuiper Belt, including the correlation of magnitudes with inclinations (Levison and Stern, 2001), as the hot population will be composed of larger objects coming from an inner region of the primordial disk where a higher…”
• The Inclination Distribution of the Kuiper Belt (2001, background): “In addition, Levison & Stern (2001) have suggested that the classical Kuiper belt is divided into a low-inclination fainter population and a high-inclination brighter population.”
• The Size Distribution of Trans-Neptunian Bodies (2003, background): “A possible preference for large objects to reside in highexcitation populations has been suggested before in studies of less well-controlled samples (Levison & Stern 2001) and in theoretical studies (Gomes 2003), and is verified by the TB survey.”
• A Correlation between Inclination and Color in the Classical Kuiper Belt (2002, result): “Such a model is compatible with two recently reported dynamical groupings: (1) the Levison and Stern (2001) large and small size components of the Classical KBOs and (2) the Brown (2001) high-i and low-i components of the Classical KBOs.”
• The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects (2004, background): “The group of ‘‘cold’’ classical KBOs with small e and small i (Levison & Stern 2001) should have even smaller rb.”
• Neptune’s Migration into a Stirred-Up Kuiper Belt: A Detailed Comparison of Simulations to Observations (2005, background): “KBO sizes can also vary with inclination [Levison & Stern (2001), but see also footnote 1 of Gomes (2003)].”
• The Compositions of Kuiper Belt Objects (2011, background): “These cold classical KBOs are also know to be unique in their lack of large bodies (Levison & Stern 2001), their higher abundance of satellites (Noll et al. 2008), and their different size distribution (Fraser, Brown & Schwamb 2010).”
• EVIDENCE FOR SLOW MIGRATION OF NEPTUNE FROM THE INCLINATION DISTRIBUTION OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS (2015, background): “And finally, (4) the size distribution of the CCs is markedly different from those of the hot and scattered populations, in that it shows a very steep slope at large sizes (e.g., Bernstein et al. 2004; Fraser et al. 2014), and lacks very large objects (Levison & Stern 2001).”
• ORBITS AND MASSES OF THE SATELLITES OF THE DWARF PLANET HAUMEA (2003 EL61) (2009, background): “5◦) has no large KBOs (Levison & Stern 2001; Brown 2008), but prevalent widely separated binaries with nearly equal masses (Noll et al. 2008).”
• Colors and Spectra of Kuiper Belt Objects (2001, background): “Levison & Stern (2001) reported a size dependence of the inclination distribution of KBOs, such that objects with absolute magnitude, H \ 6.5 have a wider inclination distribution than others.”