THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEPTUNE TROJANS AND THE MISSING INTERMEDIATE-SIZED PLANETESIMALS
- Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20015 (United States)
We present an ultra-deep survey for Neptune Trojans using the Subaru 8.2 m and Magellan 6.5 m telescopes. The survey reached a 50% detection efficiency in the R band at m{sub R} = 25.7 mag and covered 49 deg{sup 2} of sky. m{sub R} = 25.7 mag corresponds to Neptune Trojans that are about 16 km in radius (assuming an albedo of 0.05). A paucity of smaller Neptune Trojans (radii < 45 km) compared with larger ones was found. The brightest Neptune Trojans appear to follow a steep power-law slope (q = 5 {+-} 1) similar to the brightest objects in the other known stable reservoirs such as the Kuiper Belt, Jupiter Trojans, and main belt asteroids. We find a roll-over for the Neptune Trojans that occurs around a radius of r = 45 {+-} 10 km (m{sub R} = 23.5 {+-} 0.3), which is also very similar to the other stable reservoirs. All the observed stable regions in the solar system show evidence for Missing Intermediate-Sized Planetesimals (MISPs). This indicates a primordial and not collisional origin, which suggests that planetesimal formation proceeded directly from small to large objects. The scarcity of intermediate- and smaller-sized Neptune Trojans may limit them as being a strong source for the short period comets.
- OSTI ID:
- 21452680
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 723, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/723/2/L233; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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