DE-BIASED POPULATIONS OF KUIPER BELT OBJECTS FROM THE DEEP ECLIPTIC SURVEY

The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) was a survey project that discovered hundreds of Kuiper Belt objects from 1998 to 2005. The DES search fields are well documented, enabling us to calculate the probability on each frame of detecting an object with its particular orbital parameters and absolute magnitud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astronomical journal 2014-09, Vol.148 (3), p.1-17
Main Authors: Adams, E R, Gulbis, A A S, Elliot, J L, BENECCHI, S D, Buie, M W, Trilling, D E, Wasserman, L H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CLASSIFICATION
DATA ANALYSIS
DETECTION
DISTRIBUTION
Ecliptic
EXCEPTIONS
INCLINATION
Kuiper Belt Objects
Mathematical analysis
MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD FIT
Neptune
NEPTUNE PLANET
ORBITS
Populations
Power law
PROBABILITY
RESONANCE
SATELLITES
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Summary:The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) was a survey project that discovered hundreds of Kuiper Belt objects from 1998 to 2005. The DES search fields are well documented, enabling us to calculate the probability on each frame of detecting an object with its particular orbital parameters and absolute magnitude at a randomized point in its orbit. Scattered objects are somewhat more numerous than Classical objects, while there are only a quarter as many 3:2 objects as Classicals. The exception to the power law relation is the Centaurs, which are non-resonant objects with perihelia closer than Neptune and therefore brighter and detectable at smaller sizes. If instead all objects are divided by inclination into "Hot" and "Cold" populations, following Fraser et al., we find that alpha sub(Hot) = 0.90 + or - 0.02, while alpha sub(Cold) = 1.32 + or - 0.02, in good agreement with that work.
ISSN:0004-6256
1538-3881
1538-3881
DOI:10.1088/0004-6256/148/3/55