On the initial thermal evolution of Kuiper Belt objects

Details On the initial thermal evolution of Kuiper Belt objects On the initial thermal evolution of Kuiper Belt objects

Nov 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002esasp.500...29m&link_type=abstract

In: Proceedings of Asteroids, Comets, Meteors - ACM 2002. International Conference, 29 July - 2 August 2002, Berlin, Germany. Ed

Mathematics

Logic

11

Kuiper Belt Objects: Thermal Evolution

Scientific paper

Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) have been discovered with radii up to ~1000 km. Here I examine the early (≤500 Myr) thermal evolution of the larger of these bodies (≥100 km), up to the scale of Varuna. Only those KBOs that have resided in the Kuiper Belt since their formation are considered, so their thermal evolution is dominated by radiogenic heating, although impact heating of accreting surfaces by 10s of K is possible for the largest KBOs. I argue that the likely time scales of KBO accretion justify the neglect of 26Al in the models. The role of initial porosity (≍20-40%) is stressed in lowering conductivities of rock, amorphous ices, and carbonaceous matter, allowing for more rapid internal heating, although internal pressures strongly mitigate against the ultralow conductivities of vapor-deposited water ice. Release of occluded CO and other species as the water-ice crystallization temperature is reached (~85-90K for pure ice), increases the effective conductivity by means of vapor transport, and lowers the exothermic temperature excursion, if any. Transformation plasticity accompanying the amorphous-to-crystalline phase change could result in porosity reduction. Part of the color systematics of KBOs may be attributable to early geologic activity on the largest bodies vs. the likely cosmochemically primordial character of KBOs under ~75-to-225 km in radius.

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