The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Bodies

Details The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Bodies The Size Distribution of Kuiper Belt Bodies

Jul 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002hst..prop.9433b&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #9433

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #9433

Scientific paper

The Kuiper Belt is a population of remnant planetesimals from the formation of the Solar System. Since the planetesimals in extrasolar systems are too faint to see with present or planned telescopes, the Kuiper Belt is our best chance to test models of accretional/collisional evolution against observations. Current ground-based observations of Kuiper Belt Objects {KBOs} are consistent with a pure power law size distribution N{D}propto D^-q, q 4.3. Current accretion models predict a break to a shallower slope q=3.5 for objects of diameter D< 100 km. We will conduct a survey of 6 ACS/WFC fields to detect KBOs with R<28.5, and diameters as small as D 10 km. The number of KBOs at these small sizes, unmeasurable from the ground, will test the existence of the predicted break with 95% confidence--we expect between 12 and 50 detections. A census of small KBOs is also important in confirming the idea that short-period comets are errant KBOs. With HST and ground- based followup, we can determine orbital parameters for the detected KBOs, and search for dynamical populations which may be deficient in D>100 km KBOs and hence not yet detected. In particular, we will determine whether the current absence of objects with perihelia beyond 50 AU is due to a truncation of the protoplanetary disk at some point in Solar System history, or just a failure to accrete D>150 km objects.

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