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Abstract We investigate different conditions, including the orbital and size–frequency distribution (SFD) of the early Kuiper Belt, that can trigger catastrophic planetesimal destruction. The goal of this study is to test if there is evidence for collisional grinding in the Kuiper Belt that has occurred since its formation. This analysis has important implications for whether the present-day SFD of the cold classical trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) is a result of collisional equilibrium or if it reflects the primordial stage of planetesimal accretion. As an input to our modeling, we use the most up-to-date debiased OSSOS++ ensemble sample of the TNO population and orbital model based on the present-day architecture of the Kuiper Belt. We calculate the specific impact energies between impactor–target pairs from different TNO groups and compare our computed energies to catastrophic disruption results from smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. We explore different scenarios by considering different total primordial Kuiper Belt masses and power slopes of the SFD and allowing collisions to take place over different timescales. The collisional evolution of the Kuiper Belt is a strong function of the unknown initial mass in the trans-Neptunian region, where collisional grinding of planetesimals requires a total primordial Kuiper Belt mass of M > 5 M ⊕ , collision speeds as high as 3 km s −1 , and collisions over at least 0.5 Gyr. We conclude that presently, most of the collisions in the trans-Neptunian region are in the cratering rather than disruption regime. Given the low collision rates among the cold classical Kuiper Belt objects, their SFD most likely represents the primordial planetesimal accretion.
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Free Inclinations for Trans-Neptunian Objects in the Main Kuiper Belt
Abstract There is a complex inclination structure present in the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) orbital distribution in the main classical-belt region (between orbital semimajor axes of 39 and 48 au). The long-term gravitational effects of the giant planets make TNO orbits precess, but nonresonant objects maintain a nearly constant “free” inclination (Ifree) with respect to a local forced precession pole. Because of the likely cosmogonic importance of the distribution of this quantity, we tabulate free inclinations for all main-belt TNOs, each individually computed using barycentric orbital elements with respect to each object’s local forcing pole. We show that the simplest method, based on the Laplace–Lagrange secular theory, is unable to give correct forcing poles for objects near theν18secular resonance, resulting in poorly conservedIfreevalues in much of the main belt. We thus instead implemented an averaged Hamiltonian to obtain the expected nodal precession for each TNO, yielding significantly more accurate free inclinations for nonresonant objects. For the vast majority (96%) of classical-belt TNOs, theseIfreevalues are conserved to < 1° over 4 Gyr numerical simulations, demonstrating the advantage of using this well-conserved quantity in studies of the TNO population and its primordial inclination profile; our computed distributions only reinforce the idea of a very coplanar surviving “cold” primordial population, overlain by a largeI-width implanted “hot” population.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1824869
- PAR ID:
- 10365863
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
- Volume:
- 259
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0067-0049
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 54
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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