Properties of the Trans-Neptunian Belt: Statistics from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Survey

By C. Trujillo, D. Jewitt, J. Luu. 2001

218 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present the results of a wide-field survey designed to measure the size, inclination, and radial distributions of Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs). The survey found 86 KBOs in 73 deg2 observed to limiting red magnitude of 23.7 using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the 12K × 8K CCD mosaic camera. For the first time, both ecliptic and off-ecliptic fields were examined to more accurately constrain the inclination distribution of the KBOs. The survey data were processed using an automatic moving-object detection algorithm, allowing a careful characterization of the biases involved. In this work, we quantify fundamental parameters of the classical KBOs (CKBOs), the most numerous objects found in our sample, using the new data and a maximum likelihood simulation. Deriving results from our best-fit model, we find that the size distribution follows a differential power law with exponent q = 4.0 (1 σ, or 68.27% confidence). In addition, the CKBOs inhabit a very thick disk consistent with a Gaussian distribution of inclinations with a half-width of i1/2 = 20 deg (1 σ). We estimate that there are NCKBO(D > 100 km) = 3.8 × 104 (1 σ) CKBOs larger than 100 km in diameter. We also find compelling evidence for an outer edge to the CKBOs at heliocentric distances R = 50 AU.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/73f9e7a8b1e7ae3865e148b96cef97fd9a1638c4

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Citations in the corpus

Nomenclature in the Outer Solar System (2008, background): “Although the high abundance of low-i TNOs is partially a selection effect of surveys being largely confined to the ecliptic (Trujillo et al., 2001; Brown, 2001), an additional “cold” population does seem to be required, but strangely only in the a = 42–45AU region (see chapter by Kavelaars et al.”
THE TW Hya DISK AT 870 μm: COMPARISON OF CO AND DUST RADIAL STRUCTURES (2011, background): “Moreover, it is tempting to associate this r ≈ 60AU edge in the distribution of larger solid particles in the TW Hya disk with the similarly abrupt truncation of the classical Kuiper Belt at r ≈ 40-50AU in our solar system (Trujillo et al. 2001; Gladman et al. 2001).”
The Deep Ecliptic Survey: A Search for Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs. II. Dynamical Classification, the Kuiper Belt Plane, and the Core Population (2005, result): “However, this survey yields a relative fraction of objects in the 3 : 2 resonance more similar to our results than did Jewitt et al. (1998), but many of the presumably classical KBOs in the study again were assumed to be in circular orbits (Trujillo et al. 2001).”
The Scattered Disk as the Source of the Jupiter Family Comets (2008, methodology): “The statistics and limiting magnitudes for the Deep Ecliptic Survey and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Survey are described byElliot et al. (2005) and Trujillo et al. (2001), respectively.”
Origin and Evolution of Short-period Comets (2017, background): “For comparison, Trujillo et al. (2001) estimated from observations that the mass of the scattered disk is ∼0.03 M⊕, which is a 2 times lower value than the one found here, but their 1 sigma uncertainty admits masses as high as ∼0.06 M⊕, which would be in a good agreement with our work.”
The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Objects (2004, background): “Deep imaging surveys at R 22 28 suggest a power-law cumulative size distribution, NC / r q0 , with q0 ¼ 3:0 0:5 (Trujillo et al. 2001; Luu & Jewitt 2002).”
Impacts and the Early Evolution of Life (2006, background): “Weissman (1990) suggests that q ≈ 2.2 for long period comets bigger than 10 km. The Kuiper Belt, the probable source of the short period comets, seems to be telling the same story: Kuiper Belt Objects bigger than 50 km across apparently obey a q ≈ 2.1 power law distribution (Gladman et al., 2001; T”
Irregular Satellites of the Planets: Products of Capture in the Early Solar System (2007, background): “…flatter than comparable power-law representations of the size distributions of the main-belt asteroids (q ∼3.5, with significant size-dependent variations; Bottke et al. 2005), small Jovian Trojans (q ∼3.0±0.3 for radii <20 km; Jewitt et al. 2000), or KBOs (q = 4.0+0.6−0.5, Trujillo et al. 2001).”
Colors and Spectra of Kuiper Belt Objects (2001, methodology): “We take *V \ 1.3 km s~1 (Trujillo et al. 2001).”
THE CANADA–FRANCE ECLIPTIC PLANE SURVEY—L3 DATA RELEASE: THE ORBITAL STRUCTURE OF THE KUIPER BELT (2009, background): “…for the two components and extrapolate to D >100 km, we find the same404 population estimate as Hahn & Malhotra (2005) and are a factor of a few higher than Trujillo et al. (2001)405 (see Appendix C).406 Our current estimates agree with P1 when scaled to the Hg < 8 limit where CFEPS is sensitive.”
Neptune’s Migration into a Stirred-Up Kuiper Belt: A Detailed Comparison of Simulations to Observations (2005, background): “This particular model is near the threshold of detection, and its largest member has a radius of R = 250 km. Trujillo et al. (2001) also considered this scenario, but they concluded that the absence of distant KBOs requires a steeper Q > 9 size distribution.”
Origin of the structure of the Kuiper belt during a dynamical instability in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune (2007, background): “Trujillo et al. (2001) estimate that only roughly 10% of the total population of the Kuiper belt are in all the resonances combined.”
Kuiper Belt Objects: Relics from the Accretion Disk of the Sun (2002, methodology): “Extrapolating to the whole sky, we estimate that there are roughly 1500 Plutinos larger than 100 km (see Trujillo et al. 2001a).”