Statistics
Scientific paper
Jul 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004hst..prop10320t&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #10320
Statistics
Hst Proposal Id #10320 Solar System
Scientific paper
We propose to leverage HST's demonstrated superlative capacity for detecting faint Trans-Neptunian Objects {TNOs}. With tools we will optimize while verifying the deep ACS survey of GO-9433 {PI Bernstein}, we will search a 5x wider area with 30 serendipitous archive fields. Our first goal is an independent verification of the analysis of the deep ACS survey. The GO team's results {Bernstein et al. 2004} show a sharp departure from extrapolation of the size distribution that has been sampled from the ground. This has important implications for our understanding of solar system formation, the origin of short period comets, the ages of the giant planet satellites' surfaces, and collisional physics in general. This search is uniquely deep and cannot be matched from the ground {in depth} or from space {in area} by other current facilities. As it represents a substantial investment of HST time {125 orbits}, it would be expensive to repeat. The uniqueness and importance of these data call for an independent validation of GO team's results and completeness limit. More importantly, we propose to search 30 archival fields. With no additional telescope time, we can conduct a new survey to a depth comparable with the deepest ground-based surveys. Small number statistics currently dominate our understanding of the faint end of the size distribution, even at several magnitudes brighter than Bernstein et al. {2004}'s completeness limit. The archive houses data appropriate to improve meaningfully the survey space near m_R approximately 27, especially for the scientifically important class of dynamically excited TNOs. In particular, the area to be searched is large enough to determine if the ACS deep field was simply "unlucky" not to harbor any faint high-inclination objects. An extrapolation of ground-based results or an expectation that faint high-inclination TNOs should continue to be as well represented as faint low-inclination TNOs, suggest we should find approximately 5 TNOs on high-inclination orbits. The HST-specific software we will develop in revisiting the deep search is exactly what we need for this second, 5x wider search.
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