THE CANADA-FRANCE ECLIPTIC PLANE SURVEY—FULL DATA RELEASE: THE ORBITAL STRUCTURE OF THE KUIPER BELT

Jean-Marc C. Petit (1) , J. Kavelaars , B. Gladman (2) , R. Jones (3) , J. Wm. Parker (4) , C. van Laerhoven (5) , P. Nicholson , G. Mars (2) , P. Rousselot (1) , O. Mousis (1) , B. Marsden (6) , A. Bieryla (7) , M. Taylor (8) , M. Ashby (9) , P. Benavidez (10) , A. Campo Bagatin (11) , G. Bernabeu (10)

1 UTINAM - Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213)
2 CASSIOPEE - Laboratoire de Cosmologie, Astrophysique Stellaire & Solaire, de Planétologie et de Mécanique des Fluides
3 COOGER - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
4 Department of Space Studies [Boulder]
5 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Vancouver]
6 CfA - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
7 SwRI Planetary Science Directorate [Boulder]
8 MSSL - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
9 DLO Winand Staring Centre
10 DFESTS - Departamento de Fisica, Ingenieria de Sistemas y Teoria de la Señal [Alicante]
11 Universidad de Alicante

We report the orbital distribution of the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), whose discovery phase ran from early 2003 until early 2007. The follow-up observations started just after the first discoveries and extended until late 2009. We obtained characterized observations of 321 deg(2) of sky to depths in the range g similar to 23.5-24.4 AB mag. We provide a database of 169 TNOs with high-precision dynamical classification and known discovery efficiency. Using this database, we find that the classical belt is a complex region with sub-structures that go beyond the usual splitting of inner (interior to 3:2 mean-motion resonance [MMR]), main (between 3: 2 and 2: 1 MMR), and outer (exterior to 2:1 MMR). The main classical belt (a = 40-47 AU) needs to be modeled with at least three components: the "hot" component with a wide inclination distribution and two "cold" components (stirred and kernel) with much narrower inclination distributions. The hot component must have a significantly shallower absolute magnitude (H-g) distribution than the other two components. With 95% confidence, there are 8000(-1600)(+1800) objects in the main belt with H-g <= 8.0, of which 50% are from the hot component, 40% from the stirred component, and 10% from the kernel; the hot component's fraction drops rapidly with increasing Hg. Because of this, the apparent population fractions depend on the depth and ecliptic latitude of a trans-Neptunian survey. The stirred and kernel components are limited to only a portion of the main belt, while we find that the hot component is consistent with a smooth extension throughout the inner, main, and outer regions of the classical belt; in fact, the inner and outer belts are consistent with containing only hot-component objects. The H-g <= 8.0 TNO population estimates are 400 for the inner belt and 10,000 for the outer belt to within a factor of two (95% confidence). We show how the CFEPS Survey Simulator can be used to compare a cosmogonic model for the orbital element distribution to the real Kuiper Belt.

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]

Jean-Marc C. Petit, J. Kavelaars, B. Gladman, R. Jones, J. Wm. Parker, et al.. THE CANADA-FRANCE ECLIPTIC PLANE SURVEY—FULL DATA RELEASE: THE ORBITAL STRUCTURE OF THE KUIPER BELT. The Astronomical Journal, 2011, 142 (4), pp.131. ⟨10.1088/0004-6256/142/4/131⟩. ⟨hal-02374331⟩